memorials

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Memorials register

  • Memorials register

    Find exact locations and further information for more than 1000 memorials throughout New Zealand.

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  • Page 3 – About the memorials register

    The memorials register is an ongoing project to document memorials throughout New Zealand.The register includes the majority of civic First World War memorials and memorials

First World War memorials

  • First World War memorials

    The New Zealand war memorials of the First World War have become part of the common fabric of our lives, like stop signs or lamp-posts. Virtually every township in the country has one, usually in the main street.

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  • Page 1 - Interpreting First World War memorialsThe New Zealand war memorials of the First World War have become part of the common fabric of our lives, like stop signs or lamp-posts. Virtually every township in the country has

Anzac Day

  • Anzac Day

    First observed in 1916, Anzac Day - 25 April - commemorates those killed in war and honours returned servicemen and women. The ceremonies held at war memorials around the country, and in places overseas where New Zealanders gather, are rich in tradition and ritual.

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  • Page 1 - Anzac DayFirst observed in 1916, Anzac Day - 25 April - commemorates those killed in war and honours returned servicemen and women. The ceremonies held at war memorials around the country,

Known unto God

  • Known unto God

    The Unknown New Zealand Warrior interred at the National War Memorial in Wellington lost his life in France some time between April 1916 and November 1918. One of the countless victims of the 'war to end all wars', he died on the Western Front, a vast arena of misery and suffering in which New Zealanders were slaughtered in unprecedented numbers.

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  • Page 1 - Known unto GodThe Unknown New Zealand Warrior interred at the National War Memorial in Wellington lost his life in France some time between April 1916 and November 1918. One of the countless

Passchendaele: fighting for Belgium

  • Passchendaele: fighting for Belgium

    Ever since 1917 Passchendaele has been a byword for the horror of the First World War. The assault on this tiny Belgian village cost the lives of thousands of New Zealand soldiers. But its impact reached far beyond the battlefield, leaving deep scars on many New Zealand communities and families.

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  • Page 1 - Passchendaele: fighting for BelgiumEver since 1917 Passchendaele has been a byword for the horror of the First World War. The assault on this tiny Belgian village cost the lives of thousands of New Zealand

What to do with markers of our colonial past?

Interrogating historic memorials and markers

Pacific aftermath

  • Pacific aftermath

    Participation in the First World War changed Pacific Islanders' lives. Returning servicemen had seen the world.

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  • Page 4 - NZ government acknowledgementDuring the 1920s, the contribution of the Cook Islands and Niue to the war effort was recognised in a number of ways, especially official visits, the building of monuments and the

Antarctica and New Zealand

  • Antarctica and New Zealand

    NZ and Antarctica share a long and rich history. From Tuati in 1840 to Edmund Hillary in the 1950s and more recent scientists, Kiwis have explored, examined and endured the frozen continent.

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  • Page 4 - Sites of significanceThere are connections between places in Antarctica and New Zealand, and between places in New Zealand and

Schools and the First World War

  • Schools and the First World War

    Schools and children were quickly called into action at the outset of the First World War in 1914. Developing patriotic, fit and healthy citizens was seen as important to the survival of the country and the Empire. Hundreds of teachers joined the NZEF, including many from sole-teacher schools. Almost 200 never returned.

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  • Page 7 - Teachers who servedWhether as school cadet officers or supporters of saluting the flag, teachers did much to set the moral tone of New Zealand schools before and during the war. Many hundreds were

NZ Railways at war

  • NZ Railways at war

    The railway system and its workforce was one of the most valuable assets available to the New Zealand state to support the national effort during the First World War

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  • Page 6 - Railways war memorialsRailway workers honoured the service and sacrifice of their colleagues in numerous

South African War memorials

Biographies

  • Trethewey, William Thomas

    A self-taught sculptor and monumental mason committed to New Zealand subject-matters, William Trethewey crafted one of the nation’s finest First World War memorials.

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  • Gross, Richard Oliver

    Richard Gross was a New Zealand sculptor, famous for his creation of war memorials, which typically depicted the nude male in precise detail.

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