Remembering War

What is our purpose?

• We are going to investigate how and why we remember war and its impact on New Zealand.

• We are going to investigate what it is about war that we have chosen to memorialise in the past.

• We are going to develop various ideas about how we could create a suitable memorial to be built on a site at WHS.

• We are going to present our ideas to the Y10 DTW class to help inspire their project. (Week 6)

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Why do we remember war?

• What do we remember about wars?

• What do we want to remember?

• Why are these important to us?

• What do we choose to forget?

• Who or what do we ignore about war?

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How have we remembered war?

• Traditional memorials often celebrated the end of conflict or great victories.

• The memorial was supposed to show how great the nation was.

• They often showed a representative figure of the Leaders.

• Before the 19th century the common soldiers were ignored.

• That changed with the start of the 20th century.

• Increasingly memorials remembered the ordinary/common soldiers who had died.

• Every town and city wanted to remember their men who never came home.

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War Memorials around New Zealand

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War memorials in Wellington

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New Zealands (internal) Wars

• The Musket Wars

• The Northern War

• The Wellington War

• The First Taranaki War

• The Waikato War

• The Tauranga War

• The Second Taranaki War

• Te Kooti

• The East Coast War

• Parihaka

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The Musket Wars (1818-36)

• There are almost no memorials to the 20,000 Maori who are believed to have died between 1818-1836.

• Dates can even range to 1806-1845….

• Memory of these wars is often passed down in Korero.

• A monument to the defeat of Ngati Mamoe by Ngai Tahu in the 1830’s.

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The Northern War 1845-6

• The sailors and soldiers were defeated in the sacking of Kororareka by Ngapuhiforces led by Hone Heke and Kawiti.

• This plaque recognised the courage of those who heroically defended the town.

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The Waikato War 1864

• The plaque at the PaterangiPresbyterian Church.

• Battle at the ‘Paterangi line’ was avoided by attacking a nearby village at Rangiowhia where dozens of women, children and elderly people were killed.

• Maori abandoned the area effectively ending the Waikato War.

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The Tauranga War: Gate Pa

• Gate Pa near Tauranga where over 100 soldiers and sailors were killed or wounded in less than 10 minutes.

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Moutoa Island 1864• The Battle of Moutoa

fought between PaiMarire and KupapaWhanganui tribes led to this monument.

• The Kupapa drove their kin away protecting the town.

• In a visit in the 1890’s Mark Twain was horrified at the use of ‘Fanaticism and barbarian’ to describe the Maori.

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Te Kooti 1868

• A memorial to a frenchbaker, Jean Guerren, killed by Te Kootisforces.

• The story was made into one of NZ’s first motion pictures called ‘The TeKooti Trail’ in the 1920’s.

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The Taranaki Ploughmen, Dundein 1882

• At Parihaka, local Maori objected to occupation of their land by removing fences and ploughing the land.

• The Government arrested and jailed them without trial.

• The last was returned to their home 18 years later.

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Another memorial to the ploughmen, Next to the Dominion Museum building (Massey University), behind the National War Memorial.

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Overseas Wars?• What overseas wars have New

Zealander been involved in?

– The Boer War

– World War One

– World War Two

– The Korean War

– The Malaysian Emergency.

– The Indonesia Confrontation

– The Vietnam War

– Kuwait

– Afghanistan

– Iraq 16

Remembering the Boer War 1899-1902

• This was NZ’s first overseas war.

• 6,400 soldiers were sent away, with only 59 died in combat.

• For many it was a real adventure with little actual danger.

• Nationally it was celebrated with pride for our contribution to the Empire.

• This is what the memorials celebrated. Imperialism.

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Symbols: Zealandia

• A female figure is often used to depict the country as pure.

• Zealandia was used as such in this memorial to the Boer war in Waimate

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Hokitika

• A memorial could be more useful as shown by this Bell tower in Hokitika.

• The clock was added some years later.

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Realism?

• Memorials were intended to display the troops in their best light.

• This trooper is in Rotorua. and is shown in full dress.

• The reality was slightly different.

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New Zealanders in South Africa

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Symbolism: Fern and Oak

• This Boer War memorial used the Fern and the Oak…

• This reinforced our links to Britain and the Empire.

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Remembering World War One.

• The sacrifice of World War One was huge.

• 100,000 soldiers served overseas.

• 18,500 died and are buried overseas.

• 40,000 were wounded and they were a constant reminder of the cost of war.

• Memorials were somewhere that could serve as a graveyard.

• Every town and city began to build memorials, some before the war had even ended.

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The Commonwealth War Graves Commission

• The Commonwealth War Graves Commission ensures that 1.7 million people who died in the two world wars will never be forgotten.

• It cares for cemeteries and memorials at 23,000 locations, in 154 countries.

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The First WWI Memorial

Kaitaia 1916

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Remembering WWI.

• The memorial gate at Stratford dedicated to William Malone who led the Wellingtoniansin the battle for Chunuk Bair.

• He was killed in the battle by ‘friendly’ fire.

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Schools

• Eltham School

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• Auckland Grammar School

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• Wellington College Memorial Window.

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• Wellington High School

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• Island bay School

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• Kilbirnie School Gateway

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Windows

• St Andrews, Cambridge

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• Canterbury College

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• Ngati Porou Memorial Church, Tikitiki.

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Memorial Buildings

• Auckland War Memorial Museum

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• Tuatapere memorial Library

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• Peace Memorial Ashley, Canterbury

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Monuments

Cenotaph Wellington39

The National War Memorial Wellington

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Ataturk Memorial, Wellington

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The Ataturk Inscription

Those heroes who shed their blood and lost their lives, you are now lying in the soil of a friendly country. Therefore rest in peace. There is no difference between the Johnnies and the Mehmets to us where they lie side by side in this country of ours. You, the mothers who sent their sons from far away countries wipe away your tears, your sons are now lying in our bosoms and are in peace. After having lost their lives on this land they become our sons as well.

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Representative Figures

• Ngati PorouMemorial, Hastings.

• 2,227 Maori served in WWI.

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• Te Arawa Memorial Rotorua. King George and the Treaty.

• 336 Maori died and 734 were wounded during the war.

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• The ‘Untidy’ soldier Devonport, Auckland.

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• Memorial, Cambridge.

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• Symbolism: The Lion appears on many memorials.

• It shows the link between Britain and New Zealand.

• It can appear in different poses showing different interpretations.

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The unknown Soldier.

• The unknown Soldier was returned from an unmarked grave in France.

• He represents the more than 5,000 soldiers whose remains were never located.

• It is placed in front of the National War Memorial in Wellington.

• By April 2015 the road in front will be replaced with a park.

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Other Memorials

• ANZAC day at Lion Rock, Piha.

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• Carved Rock, Cave, South Canterbury

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• French Gothic Memorial, Akaroa.

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Memorial Bridge, Mt Bruce, Wairarapa

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Remembering Bess

• Between 1914-18 we sent 10,000 horses to support the troops.

• Only one returned.

• Bess died in 1934 aged 24.

• For some time it was rumoured that the horse on the cenotaph was modelled on Bess.

• Its not. It’s a stallion.

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Memorial Christchurch. Symbolism: Youth, Justice, Peace & Valour.54

Hall of memories, National War Memorial, Wellington

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The Fallen…

• Almost every memorial since 1899 has included the names of the fallen.

• Large and small monuments remembered their losses by putting their names on the monument.

• Awakino has just 14 names.

• The largest collection is in the World War One Sanctuary in Auckland Museum.

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The World War One Sanctuary, Auckland Museum57

Many memorials include the Ode • The "Ode of Remembrance" is

an ode taken from Laurence Binyon's poem, "For the Fallen", which was first published in The Times in September 1914.

They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.At the going down of the sun and in the morning,We will remember them.

A plaque in Christchurch Cathedral58

The proposed site.

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