Hard working (Joseph) Gordon Coates 1878–1943 farmer, politician, and soldier, was Prime Minister in a Reform (conservative) Government from 1925 - 1928. He held ministerial portfolios in later administrations and was a member of the War Cabinet when he died in office.
In Michael Bassett's biography of Coates he relates the interesting history of the memorial located here on the highway.
It was apparently the point at which Coates would announce to those travelling northbound with him, "Well I am home now."
A group of friends later found a way to honour Coates and the location, when Britain sent large hunks of granite from the first and former Waterloo bridge to far flung corners of the Commonwealth when the bridge was replaced in the 1940s. Two further blocks are in Canberra and one in Wellington celebrates a dead stray dog. For Northland, it is not just a misplaced piece of Channel Island Granite, but a significant memorial.
One of the plaques states "Takoto e pa i runga i au mahi nunui mo te Pakeha me te Maori." (Rest thou, O father, upon the great work you have performed for Pakeha and Maori alike.) From this intersection it is 25km to Matakohe, the location of the Kauri Museum and the Coates Memorial Church.
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