Museum still a ‘Kiwi project’

A Kiwi war memorial museum in the French town of Le Quesnoy is still firmly under the control of New Zealand interests.

The town’s mayor Marie Sophie Lesne gave the assurance when approached by Stuff.

Stuff expressed the concerns of some New Zealanders, including Waipa¯ ratepayers, that the direction of the museum project was being steered by the French as a vessel to attract tourists.

Le Quesnoy is sister city to Cambridge in the Waikato, and was liberated by New Zealand soldiers from the Germans in 1918, days before the end of World War I.

The museum was intended to recognise New Zealand’s relationship with Le Quesnoy, and to provide Kiwis with a place to visit, learn the story, and pay their respects.

Lesne was passionate about the project and personally invested her time in it when she took on the mayoral role in 2014, she said.

‘‘This is a project that I have supported very strongly from the very beginning,’’ Lesne said.

‘‘We lobbied the French government so that the New Zealand War Memorial Trust could become the owner of the former gendarmerie, which belonged to it, at a reasonable price.’’

Lesne emphasised the only role the Le Quesnoy municipality had played is acting as a interlocuter, enabling the New Zealand-based trust to buy that building.

She said the primary goal of the museum from Le Quesnoy’s perspective would be to strengthen the diplomatic and cultural relationships between the town and its New Zealand liberators.

‘‘It is a very rich link, very original, and there are a lot of cultural exchanges,’’ Lesne said.

‘‘I think it will help these diplomatic things. I think it will be a good thing.

‘‘It is a New Zealand-French town, it runs very deep.’’

The New Zealand War Memorial Trust had presently raised $2m toward what it envisages will be a $5m project.

Waipa¯ District Council, which oversees Cambridge, Te Awamutu and some surrounding towns, committed a significant $150,000 of ratepayer money to the cause.

‘‘The project matures, evolves and improves, it is a normal and positive process,’’ Lesne said.

Lesne also said it would open a door to ‘‘even greater cultural exchanges’’ between France and New Zealand in the future.