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Cenotaph Stories

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Cenotaph Stories

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  • Female Impersonation in WWI

    Sophie Elborough
    Collection Technician, Research Support

    Part I of our series on female impersonation traces the origins of female impersonation in military life, from ancient traditions to World War I. It highlights the success of the Digger Pierrots and Stanley Lawson, before examining how interwar conservatism reshaped perceptions of gender, sexuality, and performance.

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  • Female Impersonation in WWII and beyond

    Sophie Elborough & Victoria Passau
    Online Cenotaph Team

    Part II of our series on female impersonation in the military looks at its revival in World War II with the Kiwi Concert Party, its decline, and changing roles. It highlights queer resilience, Māori performance, and Carmen Rupe’s legacy.

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  • From Hastings to Hollywood: Nola Luxford

    Sophie Elborough
    Collection Technician - Research Support

    Nola Luxford was a New Zealand-born actress who built a remarkable career as a writer and pioneering broadcaster before founding the Anzac Club in New York City during World War II. Her fundraising and wartime radio broadcasts earned her the title "Angel of the Anzacs".

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  • Eyes in the Sky: New Zealanders in the Photographic Reconnaissance Units

    Matthew Nickless
    Collection Technician - Research Support

    The pilots of the Photographic Reconnaissance Units flew into enemy territory, often unarmed, in pursuit of intelligence to aid the war effort. These are the stories of two New Zealanders who flew these missions with the RAF, and the danger they met with.

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  • Lest We Forget Poetry Competition: Resilient Bonds

    Online Cenotaph Staff

    Our annual Lest We Forget poetry competition was held in Hall of Memories II on Anzac Day. The 2025 theme, Resilient Bonds: War’s Human Legacy, called for poems that explored the lasting relationships forged in times of conflict—connections that span generations, geography, and loss. Here are our finalists reading their winning poems.

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  • Leave No One Behind: Walter von Schramm and the Graves Registration Unit

    Matthew Nickless
    Collection Technician - Research Support

    The Graves Registration Unit is one of the lesser known units of World War II. Through the war diary of its commanding officer, Walter von Schramm, we look at the role of that unit, and how it fit into the wider New Zealand war effort.

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  • Remembering the Fallen: Memorials and Memory in post-War New Zealand

    Matthew Nickless
    Collection Technician - Research Support

    In towns and cities across Aotearoa New Zealand, war memorials stand as quiet witnesses to sacrifice, loss, and remembrance. The story of a lamp-post in Rakaia, gifted in memory of one young soldier, reminds us of the deeply personal motives behind these public memorials.

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  • Medals returned home: The Blanks family

    Sophie Elborough (Collection Technician, Research Support) & Scott Blanks

    After 45 years abroad, one set of World War I medals will be returning to Auckland in time for Anzac Day 2025. This story was recently shared with the Online Cenotaph team by Scott Blanks, whose grandfather’s medals made their way across the Tasman and are now in the care of Scott’s son, Nicholas.

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  • Upholding Māoritanga: Stories of Māori Prisoners of War in WWII

    Sophie Elborough
    Collection Technician, Research Support

    While stories of New Zealand’s prisoners of war during WWII are plentiful, there has been little focus on the experiences of Māori POW. Their stories reveal that despite hardship, significant displays of Māoritanga broke through the mundanity and hopelessness of their time as prisoners and demonstrate the importance of their experiences in New Zealand’s history.

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  • Dick Owen and the Arctic Convoys

    Sophie Elborough (COLLECTION TECHNICIAN) & Judy Owen (Volunteer)
    Online Cenotaph

    Pou Maumahara volunteer Judy Owen shares a story written by her father Malcolm (Dick) Cunningham Owen about his experience in the Arctic Convoys during World War II.

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