Tag Archives: World War I

How the Soldiers Who Met Harold Gillies Recovered

How the Soldiers Who Met Harold Gillies Recovered

A history of pioneering first world war plastic surgeon Harold Gillies gives due weight to the stories of the men he treated, The Guardian’s Wendy Moore writes in a review of a new book…

They Shall Not Grow Old Highest Grossing Release

They Shall Not Grow Old Highest Grossing Release

Originally presented on 17 and 27 December in the United States, Peter Jackson’s World War I documentary, They Shall Not Grow Old, grossed US$2.6 million in its encore, bringing the total gross for the…

Sir Peter Jackson – WW1 Exhibit Creator

Sir Peter Jackson – WW1 Exhibit Creator

Academy Award winning filmmaker Sir Peter Jackson talks about his new Great War Exhibition in Wellington, and how he used filmmaking technology to bring colour to a war that, until…

New Zealand and Australian Leaders Commemorate World War I Centenary in New Zealand

New Zealand and Australian Leaders Commemorate World War I Centenary in New Zealand

Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott and New Zealand Prime Minister John Key have dedicated a new memorial to commemorate the centenary of the two countries’ joint involvement in the World War I Gallipoli campaign…

Revised Views of World War One’s Bloodiest Conflict

Revised Views of World War One’s Bloodiest Conflict

As the 100th anniversary of the Gallipoli campaign approaches, the Smithsonian Magazine looks back at one of the bloodiest conflicts of World War I, which claimed the lives of 2721 New Zealand soldiers –…

New Zealand WWI Contingent Enlivened Village

New Zealand WWI Contingent Enlivened Village

During World War I, New Zealand soldiers, many from the Maori Battalion, including a self-declared Niuean prince, arrived in the small East London village of Hornchurch and formed a strong bond with residents. The location…

Artist Stephen Mulqueen Reviving Memory of Poppy Lady

Artist Stephen Mulqueen Reviving Memory of Poppy Lady

Dunedin jeweller and sculptor Stephen Mulqueen was in Athens, Georgia recently to drum up support for a memorial to one of the American city’s forgotten heroes – humanitarian Moina Michael, the “Poppy Lady.” Michael made…

Precious Life Preserved on Ward 3

Precious Life Preserved on Ward 3

The beginnings of plastic surgery during World War II and pioneer New Zealand-born Archie McIndoe’s work with the Guinea Pig Club at Queen Victoria Hospital are related in an excerpt taken from Extreme Medicine: How…

Peter Jackson and Paul Allen Dogfight over Warbirds

Peter Jackson and Paul Allen Dogfight over Warbirds

Filmmaker Peter Jackson, who has amassed more than 40 flyable World War I warbirds – the planet’s largest collection – and Microsoft Corp. billionaire Paul Allen are vying to build the world’s best fighter…

How World War Changed Women’s Fashion

How World War Changed Women’s Fashion

An exhibition called The Way We Wore – In Service and On The Street, which has begun online at the New Zealand Fashion Museum, is one of many such exhibits on now throughout…

Century-Old Photographs of Tennis Star Auctioned

Century-Old Photographs of Tennis Star Auctioned

Rare photographs of New Zealand’s greatest tennis player, four-time Wimbledon champion Anthony Wilding, have emerged for the first time in more than a century, selling for an undisclosed sum to a New Zealand buyer…

One Summer This Fearless Man Drove off the Luftwaffe

One Summer This Fearless Man Drove off the Luftwaffe

Keith Park was one of the great heroes of World War II, yet years later, when Peter Robb came across the laconic New Zealander, his contributions had still to be truly recognised. Robb recalls…

Tomb of biscuits

Tomb of biscuits

Wellington artist Kingsley Baird is building a tomb of Anzac biscuits depicting World War I soldiers to be exhibited in Europe. Baird, an associate professor at Massey University’s College of Creative Arts, said the…

Return of One Precious Book

Return of One Precious Book

The bible of New Zealand World War One soldier Private Richard Cook, which he dropped as he came under heavy fire during the Battle of Messines in Belgium in June 1917, has found its…

Passchendaele Remembered

Passchendaele Remembered

NZ and Australian leaders led commemorations at the 90th anniversary of the battle of Passchendaele in Belgium this month. PM Helen Clark and Australian Governor General Michael Jeffery paid tribute to the 10,000 ANZAC…

NZ WW1 Vets Pardoned

NZ WW1 Vets Pardoned

The British government has officially pardoned more than 300 Commonwealth soldiers executed for discipline breaches during WW1, including three NZers shot for cowardice or desertion. The legislation is the result of a 16-year campaign…

Home to Rest

Home to Rest

In November, NZ became one of the last participants of WW1 to create a tomb of the unknown soldier. The soldier’s remains arrived from France to an emotional Maori and military welcome, and were interred at the…

Lest We Forget

Lest We Forget

Russell Crowe provided the narration for a “ground-breaking” documentary series on Anzac soldiers, recently aired on NZ television and screening in Australia later this year. The series celebrates the bond between NZ and Australian soldiers, from WW1 to…

ANZACs Legend Lives On

ANZACs Legend Lives On

BBC series on the National Health Service profiles Harefield Hospital and its enduring ties with NZ and Australia. Now home to one of Britain’s leading heart surgery units, Harefield was initially established as a medical centre…

Brothers in Arms

Brothers in Arms

The Turkish government is seeking World Heritage listing for Anzac Cove – where the WW1 battle of Gallipoli took place. Turkey believes the site to be of lasting moral value, in that it embodies a unique bond…

Lest We Forget

Lest We Forget

CNN reports on revivified NZ and Australian interest in the memorial of ANZAC Day and it’s importance to trans-Tasman relations: “Tens of thousands of Australian and New Zealanders arose before dawn on Thursday to pay their respects…

Flu in Freetown

Flu in Freetown

Sierra Leone was an important staging port on the long route home for WWI ANZAC troops. Freetown’s cemetery commemorates a handful of Australians and a lone New Zealander, their journeys cut short by influenza.

“And Did the Countenance Divine/ Shine Forth Upon Our Clouded Hills?” ANZAC Remembered in Jerusalem

“And Did the Countenance Divine/ Shine Forth Upon Our Clouded Hills?” ANZAC Remembered in Jerusalem

The memory of the New Zealand and Australian soldiers who made the supreme sacrifice in WWI was honoured at the annual ANZAC Day ceremony at the Commonwealth War Graves Cemetery on Mount Scopus in Jerusalem.

Memorial for Gallipoli Dead

Memorial for Gallipoli Dead

The Prime Ministers of Australia and New Zealand have unveiled a new memorial on the Gallipoli peninsula in western Turkey to commemorate thousands of their countrymen who died fighting at Gallipoli against the Ottoman Empire during the…