Three weeks in New Zealand - 4/12 - 5/4/2024

Day 10-Museum of Zealand cont., Wellington-4/20/2024

We are now entering the Gallipoli: The Scale of Our War. Te Papa has joined forces with Weta Workshop to create an exhibition like no other.

On August 2, 1914: the Ottoman Empire signed a secret treaty with Germany against Russian Empire. On August 3, 1914, The Australian Government decided that in the event of war it would offer the United Kingdom (UK) a military force of 20,000 men and place the Royal Australian Navy (RAN) under the control of the British Admiralty. On August 4, 1914, the British Empire and its dominions declared war on the German Empire and its allies. August 6, 1914, Major-General William Throsby Bridges appointed to command the proposed Australian military force. Bridges eventually chose the name for the new force the Australian Imperial Force.

 On 25 April 1915 Australian soldiers landed at what is now called Anzac Cove on the Gallipoli Peninsula. For the vast majority of the 16,000 Australians and New Zealanders who landed on that day, it was their first experience of combat. By that evening, 2,000 of them had been killed or wounded. The Gallipoli campaign was a military failure. However, the traits that were shown there were bravery, ingenuity, endurance and friendship that have become enshrined as defining aspects of the Australian character.

 This ground-breaking exhibition tells the story of the Gallipoli campaign in World War I through the eyes and words of eight ordinary New Zealanders who found themselves in extraordinary circumstances. Each sculpture is captured frozen in a moment of time on a monumental scale – 2.4 times human size.  The giant sculptures took a staggering 24,000 hours to create, and countless hours were spent researching their rich histories.

Lieutenant Spencer Westmacott (1885-1960) was an officer with the 16^th Waikato Regiment which departed New Zealand for the First World War in October 1914. His story is the first that visitors will encounter in Te Papa’s new exhibition Gallipoli

Westmacott was part of the Allied invasion of the Gallipoli peninsula on 25 April 1915, and was one of the first New Zealanders to head up into the steep hills to join the Australians. He later remembered it as ‘the most glorious day of my life’.  However, by nightfall he had been evacuated with severe wounds, his frontline service at an end. His right arm was later amputated at a military hospital in Egypt.

Here you can see the Anzac cove on a map.

On 25 April 1915, 16,000 Australians and New Zealanders, together with British, French and Indian troops, landed on the Gallipoli peninsula. The invasion was part of a campaign to capture the peninsula and help naval operations in the Dardanelles straits relieve pressure on Russian forces who were fighting Turkish forces on the Caucasus front.

The big flag stating "The Great Adventure Began" in the New Zealand Museum signifies the country's rich history of exploration and adventure, particularly in relation to its indigenous culture and the arrival of European settlers.

The battle of Gallipoli played a significant role for New Zealanders. Despite the horrific number of losses in the battle of Gallipoli, there was a good outcome for New Zealand.

A sense of national identity was formed during and after the Battle of Gallipoli. New Zealanders realized that they were their own individual country with unique traits that was unlike Britain. Before the campaign, New Zealanders thought of themselves as the Britain of the South.
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Lieutenant Colonel Percival Fenwick (1870–1958) was born in London where he qualified as a surgeon. He served as a ship’s doctor and as a military surgeon with British forces in the South African war. Emigrating to New Zealand, he practiced as a surgeon in Whanganui and Christchurch. He married Nona Wright in 1903 and they had two children, Gwendolen and Christopher.

History curator Michael Fitzgerald introduces Lieutenant Colonel Percival Fenwick, the second, larger-than-life figure encountered in Gallipoli: The scale of our war. The 45-year-old surgeon’s despair is palpable, as leans over Jack Aitken on May 4th 1915, knowing that he has been unable to save the fatally wounded Canterbury infantryman.

 Fenwick kept up his interest in military medicine, serving with the New Zealand Medical Corps and later with the Staff as a medical officer. He signed up for active service in August 1914 and was among the first New Zealanders to land on Gallipoli on April 25th 1915. He kept a diary which vividly records the hellish conditions the men endured and his growing disillusionment at what he considered to be the inept direction of the campaign by senior commanders.

 Quinn's Post was the most advanced post of the ANZAC line. Located on the northern edge of the main ANZAC line, along with Pope's Hill, it was one of the keys to the Monash and Shrapnel valleys. If it had fallen the Turks could have broken into the heart of the ANZAC position.

Quinn's was the scene of some of the most dramatic events in the Gallipoli campaign. They included the Turkish attacks in April and May, particularly 19 and 29 May, the 24 May truce, and a series of attacks in May and June, Charles Bean described the holding of Quinn's as among the Australian Imperial Force finest feats.

John Robert Dunn, known as ‘Jack’, who was one of the thousands of keen young men who rushed to enlist at the start of the war in August 1914. Jack was 26 years old, working in Masterton as a journalist on the Wairarapa Daily Times newspaper. He was also a prominent athlete and member of local football, cricket and hockey teams. He was a well-known and highly regarded member of the Wairarapa community.

Jack Dunn had been on the peninsula since the landing on 25 April 1915. He had only recently returned from hospital after contracting dysentery. In mid-July, after having earlier reported sick, he was on sentry duty one night in early July when an officer found him asleep. This was an extremely serious offence in wartime, and Jack’s officers decided to make an example of him. He was court martialled and sentenced to death for endangering the safety of his unit. General Sir Ian Hamilton rescinded his sentence on 5 August 1915. Three days later, Dunn died on Chunuk Bair.

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They were at Quinn’s Post, a dangerous and vulnerable position very close to enemy trenches. Jack was too sick to be in the front line, but then all his exhausted mates were suffering the effects of bad food, heat and disease spread by hordes of flies.

Flies swarming his food.

Machine Gun section entitled "Carry on, Boys" the stories of the two Māori soldiers who are found in the Machine Gunners tableau,

The scene that is recreated in the exhibition is based on a paragraph taken from Rikihana’s diary, that outlines their action during the Battle for Chunuk Bair.

Both Friday and Rikihana were soldiers in the Māori Contingent, and found themselves in the same machine gun team positioned on Rhododendron Ridge during the Battle for Chunuk Bair, under the command of the brilliant, Colin Warden (for more about Warden,

 Bullets seemed to be whizzing and sputtering from all sides, right, left and front. Just after our officer, Lieutenant Waldren [Warden], had given us the range he was shot and fell back amongst us in a heap. He managed to say “Carry on boys”, and then died in the arms, I believe, of Private Lucas who was our No. 5 on the gun. Almost immediately after the loss of our leader, our gun corporal Donald Ferris was shot through the head and killed instantly and I dragged him away from the gun and laid him beside our officer. No. 2, Private F. Hawkins, took charge of the gun and I moved into position to feed the belt. Shortly afterwards he was out of action, shot through the wrist. Then I took charge and opened fire at 250 yards. I also did not reign for long for I was shot through the body at the base of neck and out of action. No. 4, Roy Devon, took charge. He was badly wounded, followed by J. Lucas, wounded. I hardly remember what followed afterwards.” 8th August 1915.

you can feel the intensity as they were fighting...

 "The Landing at Anzac" by Charles F. Goldie, which depicts soldiers climbing a hill after landing on the beach during World War I.

Painting depicting ANZAC troops attacking uphill at Chunuk Bair during the Battle of Sari Bair, August 1915. Artist: Gus Hunter.

On 6 August 1915, the Battle of Sari Bair marked a critical juncture within the broader Gallipoli Campaign during World War I. Orchestrated by General Ian Hamilton, the Allied offensive aimed to break the stalemate that had ensnared the Gallipoli peninsula since the initial landings in April.

Hamilton’s strategy encompassed a multifaceted assault. ANZAC forces, predominantly composed of Australian and New Zealand troops, were tasked with capturing the strategic high ground at Chunuk Bair and Hill 971. Simultaneously, British divisions, under the command of Lieutenant General Stopford, would conduct a landing at Suvla Bay to reinforce the main offensive.

The ANZAC advance faced formidable challenges from the outset. Ascending steep slopes under heavy fire from Ottoman defenders, the troops fought bravely but struggled to gain a decisive advantage. Despite temporary success in capturing Chunuk Bair, the New Zealanders were unable to hold the position against determined Ottoman counterattacks.

 Charlotte Le Gallais (‘Lottie’) was one of 10 nurses who served on the first voyage of the New Zealand Hospital Ship Maheno, which went to the aid of the Anzac troops at Gallipoli. A lot is known about Lottie’s experiences on the Maheno from her diary and letters home.

Two of Lottie’s four brothers served in the First World War. Leddra (Leddie) was already at Gallipoli when she embarked at Wellington and was killed on 23 July 1915. Lottie didn’t know this until some lost mail finally reached her in October.

Lottie and her brother Owen, who fought in France, returned home safely. She returned on the Maheno in January 1916, and was posted to the retired list on 21 June 1916. She married her fiancé, Charles Gardner, with whom she had two children. Lottie died in 1956.

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