Cenotaph Stories

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Lest We Forget Poetry Competition 2026
Online Cenotaph Staff
The final Lest We Forget poetry competition took place on Anzac Day 2026. For 20 years, the competition has provided a way for our community to pause, reflect, and mark Anzac Day together. Befitting the final year, the theme was He Ara Whakamua – Pathways Forward, inviting writers to look toward the future as well as the past. Here, our finalists read their winning poems.
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A vow kept: The Stewart whānau’s journey of remembrance
Victoria Passau, Online Cenotaph & Enquiry Service Manager
In 2009, Noelene Hughes travelled with her whānau from Australia to Gallipoli and Lemnos to fulfil a vow to visit the grave of her uncle, Private Pareiha Tuati (David Apanui Stewart). Their journey reconnects whakapapa, wartime diaries, and family memory, honouring the Stewart brothers and their enduring legacy across generations.
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Waitaki Boys' Hall of Memories
Martin Edmond
Guest contributor
Written to accompany a photograph by Laurence Aberhart, Martin Edmond’s essay reflects on the Hall of Memories at Waitaki Boys’ High School as both a working school space and war memorial. The image, gifted by the Waitaki Old Boys to Auckland Museum, reinforces the Hall as a place where memory endures in the absence of those commemorated.
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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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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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New Zealand Nurses in Samoa
Sophie Elborough
COLLECTION TECHNICIAN - RESEARCH SUPPORT
When the Expeditionary Force Advance Party set sail from Wellington to Samoa on 12 August 1914, they became some of the first New Zealand troops to see active service. Among them were six, soon to be seven, New Zealand nurses whose unusual service fundamentally shaped New Zealand's contribution to the war effort.
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Always in my thoughts
By Nelson Bennett
Collection Technician Research Support
"You are always in my thoughts" was how Richard Grace signed off one of his letters to his dear friend Alice. Their emotional letters exchanged during the First World War was featured in our recent Love & Loss exhibition, this article shares more about the experiences of Richard and his two brothers who served for New Zealand during WWI.
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Anzac Day Contributions
Over Anzac Day we received numerous contributions of images, notes, and more as people shared precious details. Here, we have highlighted some of the beautiful photographs contributed to Online Cenotaph by loved ones.
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Lest We Forget: A Personal Story
For our annual Lest We Forget Poetry competition we asked writers to respond to the theme of A Personal Story. Encouraging writers to visit Online Cenotaph for inspiration through the personal stories of service men and women. Here we share this year's winning entries.
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