A Kiwi World War I soldier who lay in an unmarked grave in Brisbane for more than eight decades was honoured at an Anzac Day ceremony yesterday.
Dozens have travelled from across the Pacific to unveil a military headstone for Private Robert Caffery, who served at Gallipoli and was a prisoner of war in Germany.
Private Caffery's great-grandniece, Annie Caffrey Petaia, says she was "very emotional and happy that he rested somewhere".
"I'm talking on behalf of my whole family, of the pacific. Now he's remembered - he's acknowledged," she says.
The soldier, a Kiwi of Cook Island descent, returned from the war but died alone in a Brisbane home at the age of 49.
Organiser Cate Walker, an Australian, has been working tirelessly to restore graves in the Cook Islands, where her mother is buried.
It was during that process that Ms Walker found out about Private Caffery's story.
"Two of his brothers were killed in action in France and their bodies were never found," she said.
"I mean, there's just no way I was ever going to leave him in an unmarked grave. I was going to do everything I could to get this soldier a memorial and have him remembered forever."
The service was attended by a New Zealand Defence Force representative, extended family, and Wellington's Mauke Enua cultural group.
Private Caffrey is buried in the same cemetery as Major Charles Heaphy, the first Kiwi to receive the Victoria's Cross.
SHARE ME