ANZAC Day is one way we remember the soldiers who have fallen in war. However war memorials are another way communities have acknowledged the sacrifice of these men. War memorials are part of the New Zealand cultural landscape. Practically all towns in New Zealand have at least one memorial to those from the area who died serving their country during World War One. Over 18,000 New Zealand men were killed in action or died of wounds or disease, with most being buried in foreign lands, many with no known grave. Because of this, war memorials function as a surrogate tomb or headstone, a place to remember those who had, before the war, been part of a New Zealand community. But the memorials are not all the same. In fact, there is a real difference in types and symbolism employed in memorials around the country.
Suggested Task:
Imagine that your school or local community does not have a war memorial and ask your students to design a memorial. OR imagine your students’ have been asked to design a new memorial that better reflects the significance and purpose of a war memorial today.
Finding out information
Watch the clips in the Memory section of ANZAC - New Zealanders at War (Part Three). Students could write down all the things they see that happen during an on ANZAC Day celebration. They could investigate why these things happen and what they represent and/or mean. A good task would be to ask students’ to design an order of ceremony for an ANZAC Day celebration in their local community or school. This could include who they would ask to speak, the order of events etc.
Students could then gather information about war memorials in New Zealand but also those overseas that remember New Zealand’s dead. There first point of call should be their local war memorial. They could look at others on http://www.nzhistory.net.nz/culture/the-memorials-register. Students could also look at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at http://www.nationalwarmemorial.govt.nz/tomb.html. The New Zealand war memorial in Hyde Park can be viewed at http://www.mch.govt.nz/projects/memorials/londonmemorial%20.pdf. The Commonwealth War Graves Commission also has information about memorials overseas http://www.cwgc.org/
To help students answer some of the questions below they could look at http://www.nzhistory.net.nz/category/tid/447 or Chris Maclean’s and Jock Phillips’s, The Sorrow and the Pride: New Zealand War Memorials, Wellington, 1990. Key questions about war memorials
- Which wars do they remember?
- Do they commemorate those that fought or just those who died?
- What does the memorial say about the reason for fighting in the war? King? Country? New Zealand? Democracy? (see the Bateman New Zealand Historical Atlas, Bateman, 1997, plate 78 for excellent analysis of attitudes to war as shown by war memorial inscriptions)
- What imagery is there on the memorial? What does this mean?
- Which other groups of New Zealanders involved in war are not remembered on the memorials?
- Where are they placed in a community? Why?
Students may need an overview of other wars New Zealand has been involved in. ANZACs - New Zealanders at War: Part Two provides excellent coverage of key battles in World War II and Part Three provides information on New Zealand’s involvement in Korea, Malaya, Vietnam and peacekeeping missions.
Teachers from Auckland schools could consider a visit to the wonderful Scars on the Heart exhibition at Auckland Museum.
Students could ask themselves some key questions when thinking about the war memorial that they are designing:
- Should it acknowledge the wounded?
- Should it recognise all men and women who participated rather than those who just died?
- Should it be a memorial to all wars rather than just World War I? What about the New Zealand Wars on the 1860s?
- Who will pay for it?
- What symbolism should be on the memorial?
Exploring values and perspectives
- This is where students could investigate the views of their family, friends, school and wider community about this issue.
Considering decisions
- How are students going to make a decision on their final product? Students could investigate how a decision like this is made in “real” life by consulting their local council etc. Here students could make a plan as to what they would do next. This could involve establishing criteria for making a decision.
Considering decisions
Students should reflect on the learning that has taken place, what further learning is needed as well as what their next steps could be.
