An Impressive Silence: World War One recollected at Archives

Rear Admiral Jack Steer,  Mr John McKinnon, and Air Vice Marshal Graham Lintott at the opening of the Impressive Silence exhibition. (WN08-0047-11)

27 November 2008
by Sarah Chandler

Previously unseen World War One documents, images and artefacts are now on display at Archives New Zealand in Mulgrave Street, Wellington.

The exhibition, An Impressive Silence: Public Memory and Personal Experience of the Great War, takes its name from Supreme Commander Marshal Ferdinand Foch’s comment that “On November 11th at 11.00am firing ceased along the whole front of the Allied armies. An impressive silence followed upon fifty-three months of battle. The nations could now look forward to seeing a world once more restored to peace”.

More than 18,000 New Zealanders lost their lives in the First World War; a significant loss to a country whose population at that time was a mere 1 million.

Presented across two spaces at the Archives, the first exhibition room runs a short film called ‘The Years Back’, 12 minutes of camera footage and interviews in which soldiers recollect particularly trying conditions in either sand and heat or wet and mud. Hanging from the ceiling are two striking model replica planes (a German Fokker Triplane DR1 and a British De Havilland (Airco) DK5) borrowed from Vintage Aviator Ltd.

A second room presents various artefacts from the period, including New Zealand newspapers and posters of the day as well as disturbing photographs of soldiers severely wounded or dead. There is a small section on official war art and also a section on Ettie Rout, a tireless campaigner for safe sex among soldiers abroad.

The Impressive Silence exhibition is part of Coming Home Te Hokinga Mai, the New Zealand government’s collection of official events to commemorate the 90th anniversary of the signing of the armistice to end the war. It runs until 29 May 2009.

Exhibition Opening hours:
Monday – Friday 9am – 5pm
Saturday 9am – 1pm
Free Entry

For further information about the exhibition please contact Christine Seymour on 04 495 6210 or e-mail Christine.seymour@archives.govt.nz.