Book Launch - NZ and the First World War

Rau Rangatira mā, e kui mā, e koro mā, e nga morehu o ngā hoia katoa o Aotearoa i haere ki ngā pakanga o te Ao, tēnei aku mihi māhana ki a koutou.  Nau mai, haere mai ra ki Te Whare Kawana o Te Whanganui-a-Tara.

Distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen, and veterans who have served our country warm greetings to you all.  Welcome to Government House Wellington for the launch of New Zealand and the First World War.

I want to specifically acknowledge: Rt Hon John Key, Prime Minister of New Zealand; Hon Chris Finlayson, Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage; other Ministers of the Crown; Members of Parliament; Members of the Diplomatic Corps; Lt Gen Rhys Jones, Chief of Defence Force; Lewis Holden, Chief Executive of the Ministry of Culture and Heritage; and Damien Fenton, author of the book we are launching today.  Tēnā koutou katoa.

Like my predecessors, I consider it an honour to be New Zealand’s Governor-General.  It is particularly special at this point in New Zealand’s history, as we prepare to commemorate the service and sacrifice of those who went to war for their country almost one hundred years ago.

There is a special significance for me, like many other New Zealanders, because family members – my maternal and paternal grandfathers - served our country in the First World War.  Also, knowing that my predecessor in 1914, Lord Liverpool, read out the declaration of war from the steps of Parliament is another distinctive feature.

Liverpool’s announcement was followed by impromptu street rallies and the pride of empire and flying of Union Jacks.  Since Great Britain was at war, so too was New Zealand.  Five years later we signed the Treaty of Versailles ending the war in our own right, the first time we had acted independently on the international stage.

Nearly a century since those events, New Zealanders still ponder what that war meant to us.  Some have suggested that our national identity was forged on First World War battlefields.  Some have focussed on the waste of human life, the terrible losses at Gallipoli and Passchendaele.  It is a war that continues to elicit strong emotions and differing views.

While modern perspectives have brought many insights, I believe it is important to recognise the pressures, imperatives and sentiments of the time.  With the benefit of hindsight, we know the peace paid for so dearly was short-lived.  In 1914, there was a genuine and justified fear of the consequences of defeat for New Zealanders, the Empire we belonged to and the freedoms and ideals to which we aspired.

Our servicemen in the New Zealand Expeditionary Force had every right to be proud to serve, to be confident of success and to be satisfied with their service.  However, we speak very little of victory when we speak of that war.  In that vein, a better understanding of New Zealand’s part in the First World War requires recognition alongside the victories and our defeats.

One of the things that excites me about the book we are launching today is how well it achieves this balance.  New Zealand and the First World War is a magnificent work.  It is scholarly and it is readable.  It tells the story, and stories, fully, embracing both triumph and tragedy.

It tells of the dreaded task of repairing the wire in no-man’s land.  It tells of the deadly mud at Passchendaele and the desperate battle tactics in the face of German offensives on the Western Front after the Russian armistice.  The stories spare us nothing of the grit and grind that is the daily reality of war.

Neither does it neglect the positive: our troops’ proud role in the defence of Amiens and the Ancre Valley, and the final battles of the Selle and the Sambre – where the New Zealanders and the rest of the British Third Army chased a defeated German Army across the Franco-Belgian frontier, liberating hundreds of French and Belgian cities, towns and villages along the way.

Knowing what it is to be in service far from home, I appreciate the care that has gone into describing the details of the war experience.  In this, the text is assisted by abundant illustration.  There are close-ups of weapons, uniforms, badges, canteen coupons, a leave pass, tins of bully beef and jam – the familiar items that made up the serviceman’s day-to-day world.  That some of the items are removable adds to their impact.

There are many photographs.  Personal cameras had come onto the market in the decade leading up to the war, and soldiers brought them along to capture what they imagined would be a great adventure.  The many surviving snapshots alongside the official photographs provide a fascinating glimpse into military life.

The book does not neglect the experience of those left behind.  There are chapters on wartime government, domestic security, dissent and supporting the war effort and life at home.  Many of the visual items would have been seen in New Zealand at the time – public notices, gift cards and cartoons of the times.

Of these, most poignant for me is a letter from 2nd Lieutenant George Black to his mother, in his handwriting, explaining how he has been chosen to take part in the 1st Otago’s trench raid of 13 July 1916 – coupled with a letter from his brother advising of his death a few days later.

In the last chapter of the book is a notice for a memorial service on Anzac Day 1916.  It recalls to me that as we prepare for the centenary of the First World War, we continue a long tradition of remembrance. 

Those who served did not always feel able to speak about their experiences when they returned to New Zealand.  What better way to honour these men than by telling their stories compellingly and so meticulously.

On this day that we celebrate an armistice in 1918, we also mark a centenary of the last year of peace.  And yet the four years of the First World War are worth remembering because men and women gave their all for our hope.  I welcome this marvellous book that will help New Zealanders understand and remember for many years to come that piece of our history.

My warmest congratulations to author Damien Fenton, to the Ministry for Culture and Heritage Chief Executive, Lewis Holden, and to Caroline Lord, Gavin McLean and Tim Shoebridge.  The Ministry can be very proud of this publication and the quality of historical works it continues to produce. 

I am very pleased now to launch New Zealand and the First World War.

No reira, kia ora, kia kaha, kia manawanui, huihui tātou katoa