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The scene of New Zealand’s last major action in World War I will become a living memorial to those involved, and the nation’s wartime legacy. A 19th Century mansion in the northern French town of Le Quesnoy will become a museum and visitor centre that will tell the story of the Kiwi diggers who scaled […]

Wētā Workshop is embarking on its latest venture, bringing to life a pivotal moment in New Zealand’s WWI history thousands of kilometres away from Wellington in a small French town, Le Quesnoy. Opening to the public in a phased manner from ANZAC Day 2023, the living memorial museum and visitor centre will honour New Zealand’s […]

The Rugby World Cup (RWC) final will be played in Paris in late October 2023. While the participants, nor the victors, can be foretold hopefully the prediction that Kiwis will again be travelling to follow the tournament can be more certain. It’s also probable if Kiwis are travelling in France, that many of them will […]

He aha te mea nui o te ao? (What is the most important thing in the world?) He tangata, he tangata, he tangata (It is the people, it is the people, it is the people). Who are your people? On this of all days, that Māori proverb resonates. When you muse on world wars, it […]

A museum in France will be built with the help of Nelson College old boys, celebrating connections forged in World War I. Nelson college old boy, former deputy prime minister and former secretary-general of the commonwealth Sir Don McKinnon is helping to raise funds for the long-running project in his role as the chair of […]

Bureaucracy is being blamed for standing in the way of a kiwi-led war memorial museum in France getting underway. Since a key piece of legislation was passed in March, the project has been progressing well, museum trust chair Sir Don McKinnon said.

The 100th anniversary of the liberation of Le Quesnoy in World War I was marked in Cambridge with a special remembrance of light, song, sounds, art and celebration. It saw Cambridge Town Hall’s front transformed into a temporary movie screen as a giant projector showed a 3½-minute long movie using footage of WWI.

A hundred years ago, towards the end of World War I, New Zealand soldiers liberated a small French town – and they have not forgotten it. On Sunday in Le Quesnoy, New Zealanders and French locals alike gathered to remember the 4th Battalion, New Zealand Rifle Brigade, who used ladders to scale the fortress defences […]

Hundreds of Kiwis have flooded into a small town in northern France to commemorate one of New Zealand’s finest moments of the First World War. It’s been exactly 100 years since Kiwi soldiers cunningly snuck into Le Quesnoy defeated the Germans, and liberated thousands of local residents.

On November 4 in 1918, New Zealand soldiers liberated the small French town of Le Quesnoy. We look at this little-known part of our history and the links that endure 100 years on. Say the name Leslie Averill in Le Quesnoy and the locals will point you to the pre-school and the road opposite. Both […]