First New Zealand Memorial Museum to open in Le Quesnoy, France, in October

Te Arawhata (New Zealand Liberation Museum) opens in October. Photo / Whakaata Māori

New Zealand’s first memorial museum in Europe will open in France this October.

Te Arawhata, The New Zealand Liberation Museum, will commemorate NZ soldiers who died during World War I, and acknowledge the link between Le Quesnoy and the New Zealand soldiers who fought to free the town from German occupation.

New Zealand artist Lindsey Kirk is aware of the historic links that tie New Zealand and Le Quesnoy together, and she says that brings a mixture of emotions.

“It’s quite overwhelming, the first visit to the cemetery, and to see all these New Zealand men who died. I read about the whole event. And it’s also amazing that they died in the last week of the war. It was all about to be over, and this amazing, sneaky attack occurred and was very successful for Le Quesnoy,” Kirk says.

During World War I, after the failed Gallipoli campaign, the Anzac soldiers were moved to France in 1916, fighting the German empire for the rest of the war. Eventually, many of the New Zealand troops helped to lay siege to the German-occupied Le Quesnoy, freeing the residents by using medieval scaling ladders to climb over 30-metre-high ramparts surrounding the town.

Le Quesnoy historian Gregory Chermeux says, “Could you imagine that our two countries would be linked in history? Our little town in France, with New Zealanders?

On November 4, 1918, the New Zealand Division liberated Le Quesnoy, a town of about 3000 people in northeast France.

“It’s amazing for us and I think it’s amazing for you that it will be a link for our two countries.”

The museum being transformed from a mansion to feature exhibits designed by Weta Workshop.

Peter Bedford, a cousin of Lieutenant Leslie Averill, who was the first official Kiwi to enter Le Quesnoy - although a Māori soldier had entered hours before and returned - says the museum will be a great reminder of the events and become a place of interest for those wanting to learn tales of the New Zealand forces in Le Quesnoy.

“That’s going to be fantastic. Not only are New Zealanders going to visit but, hopefully, it will be an appealing thing to Europeans. People want to come here and add it to their itinerary for World War I commemorations, and finding out exactly what happened in that period,” Bradford says.

Members of the young generation of Le Quesnoy natives say they are amazed by the work of the New Zealand soldiers helping free their ancestors from the Germans, not only because of their ages but also fighting for an unknown country.

“It’s quite moving to see people who were 23, who were my age, who came from the other side of the world, from New Zealand to liberate a city they most likely didn’t know,” Le Quesnoy resident William Bluese says. ”It’s very different from how we live today.”

The doors of Te Arawhata (New Zealand Liberation Museum) will open on October 11, serving as a window into the century gone, and the work that will never be forgotten.