Displaying items by tag: story

Shared Histories is a school programme to mark the commemoration of the First World War.

While uncovering the story of my great grandfather, I became fascinated with the detail of the various war records - whether they be the enlistment forms or the day-to-day journals written from the field. Here are some interesting bits and pieces I came across on my travels...

The cover photo shows my great grandfather's original attestation for general service when he would have signed up to go over to Samoa within the first few days of war breaking out. This is the second form he would have...

I’ve known bits and pieces of my great grandfather’s story but yesterday I had the opportunity to sit down with my grandmother and her brother to uncover the full truth. My great-uncle undertook his own research in France a few years ago, following in the footsteps of his father, including the exact spot where he was wounded, according to field reports. He travelled to many of the places which I too will visit in fewer than two weeks’ time! Here is the story of my great-grandfather which I have...

The first big NZ campaign of WW1 is one we know lots about, Gallipoli. It was a shocking and horrifying way to start the war for New Zealand, whose losses were one dead for every six who fought there.

For Rotorua soldiers who went to Gallipoli , it was like how many described it; hell. In Don Stafford's The New Century In Rotorua, Dick Garlid, a Rotorua man serving with the Auckland Mounted Rifles said after the war, “Gallipoli was a starvation hole. Oh, crikey, they were dying like flies. I...

An overview of our project that hangs at the exhibition in the Queen Elizabeth II Pukeahu Education Centre at Pukeahu National War Memorial Park in Wellington.

Baradene College students Olivia Mendonca and Genevieve Bowler with the Prime Minister of New Zealand, John Key, at their exhibition at opening of the Queen Elizabeth II Pukeahu Education Centre at Pukeahu National War Memorial Park, Wellington, where the Shared Histories project by Baradene College of the Sacred Heart in Auckland and the French school Lycée Professionnel Jean Macé, in Chauny, France is on display. 

Baradene College students Olivia Mendonca and Genevieve Bowler with the Governor-General of New Zealand, Sir Jerry Mateparae,

The Queen Elizabeth II Pukeahu Education Centre at Pukeahu National War Memorial Park was opened in Wellington with the Shared Histories project by Baradene College of the Sacred Heart in Auckland and the French school Lycée Professionnel Jean Macé, in Chauny, France on display. The centre is the birthday gift from New Zealand to Queen Elizabeth. We were very pleased...

I started this journey believing no relatives of mine fought in World War One. What I have found is both deeply saddening and extremely interesting.

The success of our Shared Histories Partnership project has been acknowledged by the Ministry of Culture and Heritage in Wellington.

As part of our study of WWI links between France and NZ we looked at how and why the poppy has become the symbol of soldiers who have fallen in war.