Word on the street: Harkness Rice Way

It is named in honour of Private Harkness Henry Rice who was killed in action on October 12, 1917 at the Battle of Passchendaele.

Harkness Rice Way leads to a small subdivision off Plymouth Rd in Oakura.

It is named in honour of Private Harkness Henry Rice who was killed in action on October 12, 1917 at the Battle of Passchendaele.

Harkness Rice was born in amaru on June 2, 1879, the son of John and Emily Rice. At the time of his enlistment with the New Zealand Expeditionary Force in 1916 he was working as a clerk for the Customs Department in Dunedin.

According to his war record held at Archives New Zealand he left New Zealand as part of the Otago Regiment in February 1917, arriving in England in early May.

Only five months later he was one of more than 800 New Zealand soldiers killed in the attack on Bellevue Spur, described as probably the darkest day in New Zealand’s history.

When it came time to name this right-of-way in Oakura in 2017, it was decided to mark the centenary of this battle by naming¯Oit after someone with a connection to the local area. While Harkness had not actually lived in Taranaki, his father, John Henry Rice had moved to Taranaki in the early 1900s. He was a teacher, working first in Whangamomona and then Stratford, before retiring to live in Oakura. As part of the process to name the roadway after Harkness Rice, it was necessary to obtain approval from his closest living relative.

As he was unmarried and an only child, it proved a difficult task. Eventually a great-nephew was found living in Auckland.

He was contacted and quickly gave his blessing to the choice, adding that his mother was born in Taranaki and she also would have been very pleased with the decision.

Contributed by the Taranaki Research Centre I Te Pua Wa¯nanga o Taranaki at Puke Ariki.