Memorial to Samuel Mitchell VC

Nearly 130 years after the death of New Zealand's first Victoria Cross recipient, a tiny plaque was laid here in memoriam at a peaceful spot by the lake behind Ross, where he had chosen to live and then accidentally drowned.

Samuel Mitchell VC, was born in England in 1842, and by 1864 had already earned the Admiralty's highest honours, for bravery in the Battle of Gate Pa, an ugly chapter in the Land Wars. Young Mitchell had been with the Royal Navy since he was 15, and more recently assigned to Commander Hay as coxwain on their vessel the HMS Harrier, based in Sydney. Travelling up the Waikato River, and engaging in the Battle of Rangiriri, they were then sent to Gate Pa, which was was to be Hay's last fight. Though the present day approach is not to celebrate Land Wars, a young man who carried his injured commander out under fire, was in those days, a hero. As was the Surgeon, Dr Manley, who dressed Hay's wounds on the battlefield, who also recieved a VC. Hay did not survive.

In Tauranga, Mitchell Street is named for Samuel Mitchell. In Ross, where the young hero settled, married, took up mining, then farming and fathered eleven children, he was honoured by nothing but his gravestone in the town cemetery. His death was by drowning at the age of 52, it is thought he was taken out by a small flash flood or a floating log while crossing the Mikonui. The VC medal itself went missing for a very long time and that is another interesting and frustrating story, happily finishing with it safely ensconced at the Hokitika Museum.

In 2016, Sir Jerry Mataparae visited and laid the small plaque to modest Mitchell.

Across the road is the garden reserve created in Chinese style to honour early Ross Goldminers who had originated in China.