When war broke out in 1914, young New Zealand men rushed to sign up for a big adventure overseas. As time went on, news of the horrific realities of war filtered back home and it became clear that the fighting would not be short lived. Volunteer numbers fell, and to maintain the numbers of troops […]
New Zealand enters the Battle of the Somme
September 2016 marks the centenary of New Zealand’s entry into the Battle of the Somme. The Battle was fought by Britain, France and their allies against Germany. It was a hard fought campaign, characterised by poor weather conditions and thick mud, and both sides suffered huge numbers of casualties which can be difficult to put into perspective 100 years on. […]
A visit to Flanders Fields
During April I visited Belgium. I travelled with two other historically-inclined New Zealanders, and one very accommodating Englishman who adeptly managed the change from left to right-hand driving whilst enduring lengthy discussions about New Zealand’s place in WWI. We were in Ieper (or Ypres), West Flanders, primarily to understand New Zealand’s connection to that small part […]
Gallipoli – The scale of our war, at Te Papa
Te Papa is combining the worlds of movies, model-making, and museums to take visitors on a journey back to Gallipoli. The Gallipoli – The scale of our war exhibition brings together the creative artisans of Weta Workshop with the curatorial research and expertise of the national museum. On April 18 the top secret creative approach […]
Fraternising with the enemy – the 1914 Christmas Truce
This is not a story about New Zealanders during WWI, as you would usually expect to find on this blog. Instead, it’s a story about humanity during warfare – and a significant event that occurred 100 years ago this Christmas. When WWI broke out in August 1914, thousands of men signed up to go to war, not […]
North Otago Museum opens new WWI exhibition
As part of the WW100 centennial commemorations, the North Otago Museum presents From little towns in a far land. The title of the exhibition comes from a Rudyard Kipling poem which is inscribed on the First World War memorial in Thames Street, Oamaru. From little towns in a far land focuses on the stories behind […]
Knitting for victory
For the Empire and her Freedom, We all must do our bit; The men go forth to battle, The women wait – and knit. One of the ways women at home supported troops overseas was by knitting. Though this sounds like a mundane activity, making socks, gloves, scarves, balaclavas and the like for the men […]
Recuperation – new trades and crafts aid recovery
One of the methods used to help men recover from trauma and injuries caused by war was to encourage them to take up new trades or crafts. For some, a change of employment was necessary – men who had worked in manual occupations before the war were sometimes injured in such a way that made […]
Just a number? Morris Brown’s identity disc
Identity discs, each one bearing the unique service number of a soldier, are some of the most recognisable artefacts out of all the remains of the Great War. Official and unofficial examples [like the one below] are common in both in museum and private collections. The sequence of six or seven numbers which were stamped […]
Archives NZ & National Library open files on WWI
More than 141,000 World War I service files are now available online, adding to the wealth of information detailing New Zealanders’ experience of the war made available by Archives New Zealand and the National Library. In possibly the largest and most complicated digitisation project in New Zealand’s history, Archives New Zealand staff identified over 141,000 World […]
