Anzacs of Aotearoa New Zealand

The significance of the Anzac poppy

The Anzac poppy is the most powerful symbol relating to the impact of war in Aotearoa New Zealand society and is usually worn the day before and on Anzac Day, 25 April, and can also be seen at major commemorative events, military funerals, war graves and cemeteries in Aotearoa New Zealand and around the world.

Gallipoli: The Scale of our War

Primary, Secondary

Explore our exhibition Gallipoli: The Scale of our War and the stories of those who witnessed the campaign from the front lines.

Listen: Professor Jay Winter on photographing the Great War

Hear a talk by historian Jay Winter, exploring the ‘Kodak revolution’ of World War I and the extensive trail of unofficial photography that ensued.

The Māori Battallion – Māori soldiers who served at Gallipoli

Read about the research, records and stories of Māori at World War I as part of the New Zealand (Māori) Pioneer Battalion, or Native Contingent and Pioneer Battalion, that went on to be the 28th Māori Battalion in World War II.

Were there Pacific Islanders at Gallipoli in 1915?

New Zealand recruited men from its colonies and the wider Pacific to fight in both world wars. In the First World War, men from the Cook Islands and Niue enlisted in the New Zealand (Maori) Pioneer Battalion. They were joined by recruits from Tahiti, Fiji, Samoa, Tonga, and the Gilbert and Ellice Islands (Kiribati and Tuvalu).

The after care of disabled soldiers

World War I saw the mutilation of men’s bodies on an unprecedented scale: around 1,000 New Zealand servicemen had limbs amputated due to the horrendous effects of shellfire and ‘gas gangrene’. We have a collection of 28 exhibition prints showing limbless men attending the workshops and other facilities at Oatlands Park.

Photographing New Zealand’s limbless soldiers of WWI

In 1918, the New Zealand army commissioned photographs of servicemen who had lost limbs during the war. This was part of a government scheme to show that these men were still competent and employable.

Blogs about the First World War

Read about personal experiences, recruitment, memorials, and conscientious objection during World War I.

Gallipoli: The Scale of Our War

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.

Gallipoli: The Scale of Our War

The story of a defining campaign and a monumental exhibition.

Blogs about Gallipoli: People, events, and the exhibition

Watch: Tales from Te Papa – World War I Letters from the Front

Twelve thousand New Zealand soldiers died in World War I. In recent years, there has been a growing interest in remembering the soldiers who lost their lives so far from home. The mementoes of one soldier represent those who were not able to leave anything behind to tell of where, when and how they died.

Armistice 1918

An armistice (truce) between Germany and the Allies was signed in France on 11 November 1918 (although the First World War did not officially end until June 1919 when the Treaty of Versailles was signed). This occurred on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month.

Second World War posters

War posters were flashes of intense colour in towns and cities throughout New Zealand during the Second World War (1939-45).

Everyday reminders of World War I

There are many types of artefacts related to the First World War besides the uniforms of servicemen, their medals, and military hardware. World War I also influenced the objects that New Zealanders made or used in their day-to-day lives, and exchanged as gifts. Te Papa holds a range of examples of these types of items in its collections.

Read about the Berry Boys (and Berry Girls) on our blog

Stories about soldiers and their studio portraits taken by Wellington photographer William Berry just before they left for training camps and the battlefields of WWI.

Browse World War I topics on Collections Online

These topics illustrate the breadth and nature of Te Papa's WWI-related collections.

Gallipoli in our collections

View photos, people, and ephemera connected to Gallipoli in our collections.

German Samoa captured by New Zealand Troops – 29 August 1914

August 2014 marked the 100th anniversary of the occupation of Samoa by New Zealand troops. It was the first military action of New Zealanders in the first world war.

Cook Island Company Badge 1916

This is a metal badge made for troops of the Cook Islands Company of the New Zealand army in the First World War. It is modelled after the New Zealand Pioneer Battalion Badge and features the face of a Maori warrior wearing a solid necklace that joins the tips of two ferns.