Otago Daily Times

Is Dunedin’s planned memorial an affront?

Is a Dunedin memorial to conscienti­ous objector Archibald Baxter an insult to the memory of the thousands of young Dunedin and Otago men who were killed in the First World War, asks Gerald Cunningham.

- Gerald Cunningham is an author, photograph­er and historian who lives in Lauder, Central Otago.

IS Dunedin ready for the constructi­on of a highprofil­e public memorial located at the intersecti­on of George and Albany Sts to celebrate the life of local first World War conscienti­ous objector, Archibald Baxter and others who refused to fight in that terrible war?

As a remote volunteer for the Londonbase­d Imperial War Museum’s online site Lives of the First World War, my work has brought me into contact with the history, lives, circumstan­ces and war service of those young Dunedin and Otago men who were conscripte­d. Many were barely out of their teens and were killed at an age when they should have been celebratin­g their 21st birthdays, instead of fighting a disgusting war on the other side of the world. The majority of those conscripte­d were single, had lowpaying jobs, were often poorly educated, and in the eyes of the overzealou­s government of the time, could be spared to fight a war.

I have travelled through France and Belgium and seen the thousands upon thousands of white headstones in the World War 1 cemeteries in those countries. I have stood beside the grave on the Somme in France of Private Andrew McBreen from Moa Creek in Central Otago and wondered just what this young man was doing there, flanked on the left by an Indian soldier and on the right by a young man from Great Barrier Island in the Hauraki Gulf, near Auckland.

Andrew McBreen’s sisters tried to hide his conscripti­on notice from him when it arrived at Moa Creek, hoping the war would end, but he was caught up in the chaos and died of wounds in 1918.

The Dunedin and Otago soldiers who were buried were the lucky ones. Their bodies were able to be identified and given a dignified burial with a headstone that is a memorial to the fact that they once existed. The memorial gate in the city of Ypres in Belgium is another matter. There are fifty thousand names of allied soldiers, including many from Dunedin and Otago, on this gate whose bodies were never found.

Many were blown to unidentifi­able pieces by enemy shellfire, or simply disappeare­d without trace in the mud and chaos of the First World

War battlefiel­ds.

The fiasco that was Gallipoli brought home the reality of war to New Zealand and muted the desire to volunteer for a war that was expected to ‘‘be over by Christmas 1914’’. Conscripti­on was introduced in 1915 to counteract this lack of volunteers. It is highly possible that the young Dunedin and Otago men who were conscripte­d had no desire to fight, given the casualty figures and conditions that they had to endure.

Unlike the more savvy Archibald Baxter and his followers, who knew how the rules worked, they were not sophistica­ted to the point where they knew how to become conscienti­ous objectors before leaving New Zealand. Once on the front lines they had no choice, as they could be shot for desertion or for not obeying suicidal orders. That was where these young men’s lives ended.

Unlike Archibald Baxter they did not return to New Zealand to live out their lives and raise a family. Most of the conscienti­ous objectors did return. Yes, some were badly treated, but their lives were not cut short. Does Dunedin really need a memorial celebratin­g the lives of these conscienti­ous objectors? Its constructi­on could be seen as an insult to the memory of the thousands of young Dunedin and

Otago men who fought and were killed in action in the fiasco that was the First World War.

 ?? IMAGE: BAXTER DESIGN ?? A concept plan for the proposed Archibald Baxter memorial garden, which has been approved by the Dunedin City Council.
IMAGE: BAXTER DESIGN A concept plan for the proposed Archibald Baxter memorial garden, which has been approved by the Dunedin City Council.

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