Today all of the students got to see the book. Everyone was excited to see the section they had written and to find thier name as an author at the back of the book. Our task today for the project was to post two copied to the National Library of New Zealand. This is called the "Legal Deposit" and is required under law in New Zealand when you get an ISBN number for the book. It means that two copies will be forever kept in the Bational Library for researchers to reference.

Photo of our book. Today we were able to get the book from the printing company.

The book cover has an image by a New Zealand artist John Z. Robinson. The image is a linocut print. The image is of Field Punishment No.1. This punishment was used to discipline soldiers and four of the New Zealand concientious objectors were also made to undergo this for periods of 28 days at a time. 

Another preview of our book. This time the pages show photos of Archibald Baxter and Mark Briggs (two conscientious objectors sent to the Western Front) and a great photo we sourced from Puke Ariki Museum of a NZ soldier on the duckboard at the front line. Briggs was dragged over this, the nails on it digging into his flesh and creating huge wounds. Baxter was marched to the front line in order to try to "break his will" to resist military service. In the end he got left there, and wandered...

The photo shows pages from our book that we are publishing as part of our Shared Histories Project. The book will be launched when we are in Chauny, France. The photo shows a section of the book written by the French students in Chauny who researched the execution of a group of soldiers in Vingré. These are known as the Martyrs of Vingré [Martyrs de Vingré]. The book is bilingual in French and English. 

Les Martyrs de Vingré sont six poilus, le caporal Paul Henry Floch et les soldats Jean...

Today was a visit to the printing company to look at the book being printed. It is going to be great. Our book, written by the French students in Chauny, France and the New Zealand students at Baradene College in Auckland New Zealand, is titled “La Bataille de la Conscience” [The Battle of Conscience] – 60 pages – ISBN 978-0-473-31621-1

The photos show the printing presses in the workshop where the book is being made.

A photo giving a look at what the posters for our exhibition look like. Our posters [by French students and New Zealand students] have been edited and now all loot like they belong together. They will be printed a large A1 size for the exhibition we are having in Chauny, France. They are to be printed on a matt laminate card and should look really great. We can't wait to see them when they have been printed at the end of the week. The posters are bilingual in French and English languages.

Our...

The photo is from the National Archives in Wellington. [ AD1 10/407/3] It shows conscientious objectors on the Waitemata troop ship being forcibly dressed in military uniforms.

Fourteen New Zealand Conscientious Objectors were secretly forced onto a ship and sent to France during the First World War. They were treated very harshly as the military authorities made efforts to intimidate the men, wear them down and break their spirit. They continued to resist, even though this made conditions...

In the National Library of New Zealand, called the Alexander Turnbull Library, in the capital city Wellington, there is an exhibition about WWI. It is called “World War One. A Contemporary Conversation” and is worth a visit if you are on holiday in Wellington.

On display are some information relating to our Shared Histories project. There are two display’s that discuss about the conscientious objector Archibald Baxter. He was sent to France in the First World War and was one of the soldiers...

An exhibition in the city of Dunedin at Toitū (Otago Settlers Museum) explores the stories of enlistment and departure, conscientious objection and conscription, the horrors and honours of war. In one section titled “Dissenters” they present primary documents on those who refused to fight. The caption on the display said;

“Most Dunedin citizens strongly supported the war effort. Some small groups and individuals, however, refused to participate for political, religious or moral reasons. But...

Our Research Report - By Sinead Burns, Lara Sell, Sofia Schollum

 For our Blog post we are reporting on our research focus - What were the government’s policies (New Zealand) towards pacifists in World War One?

During World War 1 and many other wars in general, there has been a wide expectation that all men had an obligation to fight.

Introduced in 1912, the Defence Amendment Act stated that appropriate punishment would follow any objection to conscription. The punishment would include...