Auckland War Memorial Museum

Site Information

Official Name: Auckland War Memorial Museum (Tāmaki Paenga Hira)

Location: Auckland, New Zealand

Type: Building

The Auckland War Memorial Museum, also known as the Auckland Museum, is a combined museum and memorial to individuals killed in wars in which New Zealand participated. After World War I, Aucklanders wanted a place for families, friends and veterans to remember and honour the thousands of Aucklanders who were killed during the war whose remains were not returned to New Zealand. As the Auckland Museum had been planning to expand and locate to a new site, the decision was made to combine both a war memorial and a museum in one building.

The Auckland War Memorial Museum opened in 1929. A massive building set atop the dormant volcano Pukekawa (also known as Auckland Domain), it resembles the Parthenon of Athens, Greece. Made of Portland stone and Coromandel granite, its colonnades are exact matches to those of the ancient temple. It was built in the classic Greek Revival style. In front of the museum is the Court of Honour and the Australian Cenotaph. Inside, the Auckland Provincial Roll of Honour shows the names of Aucklanders and others with a connection to Auckland who died in World War I inscribed on marble slabs. After World War II, the building was expanded to include a memorial for Aucklanders killed in that war, and the names of the war dead were added to the World War II Roll of Honour. Shrines, monuments and rolls of honour were later added to memorialise not only people connected to Auckland but all New Zealanders who died in other wars, including the New Zealand Wars and the South African, Korean, Malaya-Borneo and Vietnam Wars.

History

The Auckland War Memorial History has its origins in the Auckland Museum, the first museum of New Zealand. In 1852 the Auckland Museum opened in a two-room cottage in Grafton, a suburb of Auckland. As its collection expanded, it moved to new sites: first the Provincial Council Building in 1867 and then the former post office building on Princes Street in 1870. In 1876 it joined with another institution to form the Auckland Institute and Museum and moved to a custom-built edifice on Princes Street. As it continued to grow, it sought a new site. By 1918 it had secured a site on Pukekawa. Shortly thereafter it decided to combine the museum with a war memorial.

Māoris had lived on Pukekawa for decades. It had been the site of several tribal battles in the early 1800s, and was the location of a pā, or Māori hill fort. Around 1860 the Ngāti Whātua sold the land to European settlers. While a site of such historical significance to Māoris would probably not be chosen to build a civic and cultural building in the twenty-first century, at the time its background as a battlefield was viewed as fitting for a war memorial.

Thomas Cheeseman, the museum's director, spearheaded the drive for the new building. A war memorial committee made up of citizens was established and sponsored an international design competition, with an award funded by the Institute of British Architects. The winning entry was the local Auckland architectural firm of Grierson, Aimer and Draffin. The Auckland government and a few local government agencies gave grants to fund the construction of the new building, but the greater part of the money was raised through subscriptions solicited by Cheeseman and the war memorial committee.

Construction started in 1925 and the museum officially opened on 28 November 1929. That same day the Auckland Cenotaph (empty tomb) was consecrated. An addition was built after World War II. Designed by architects M. K. Draffin and R. F. Draffin, it opened in 1960. This addition includes the World War II Hall of Memories, which memorialises people lost not only in World War II but later wars.

In 1994 a two-stage renovation project began to update the building and the museum's collections. The second stage, which began in 2003, included construction to increase the museum's floor space. The project was overseen in part by Noel Lane Architects. Completed in 2006 the additions provided more space for storage, exhibitions and educational activities and added a theatre, events centre and memorial water feature in the museum's forecourt.

The Auckland Returned and Services Association is the guardian of the Auckland Cenotaph.

Significance

The Auckland War Memorial Museum functions as both a museum and a place where people memorialise Auckland's and the nation's war dead. In addition to its dual purpose as a monument and museum, the museum recognises the historical significance of its site. The Auckland Domain has long been a meeting place for local residents. On 29 November 1929, the day after the museum's opening day ceremony, a Māori ceremony was held to dedicate Hotunui, the meeting house of the Hauraki tribes.

On 23 September 1914 hundreds of people assembled on the Auckland Domain for a farewell ceremony for Auckland volunteers heading off to war. Two years later the nation instituted the first Anzac Day, a day to commemorate people who lost their lives in war. Anzac Day remains a day of national mourning. In 1939 the Auckland Residents of the Australian Imperial Forces (now New Zealand Vietnam Veterans Association) held a Dawn Service at the site of the Auckland Cenotaph. Dawn Service became a tradition and has continued into the twenty-first century. It consists of a wreath-laying ceremony, parade, prayers, readings and a bugle call. In addition to the service, the museum hosts an Anzac Day program, which includes special events and exhibitions.

In its role as a museum, the Auckland War Memorial Museum collects, stores and exhibits objects and materials of cultural and historical significance. In addition to storing Auckland's war records, it has collections of Māori objects and those of other Pacific peoples, as well as exhibits on natural history, warfare and New Zealand's war history. Its top floor houses the War Memorial galleries, which include the World War I Hall of Memories, the World War II Hall of Memories, Scars on the Heart, Spitfire, Zero, the Holocaust Gallery, the Colours Gallery and the Armoury. The latter is the museum's military information centre.

The Auckland War Memorial Museum was inscribed on the New Zealand Heritage List on 27 June 1985. Entered as a historical place category 1, it was cited for its national and international significance as a monument to those who died in the two world wars and for its value as a spiritual connection to those who died in both Māori and Pākehā battles.

Bibliography

Auckland Museum Annual Report: 2015/2016. Auckland War Memorial Museum, 25 Oct. 2016, www.aucklandmuseum.com/about-us/corporate-information/annual-plan-and-annual-report/annual-report. Accessed 17 June 2024.

"Auckland War Memorial Museum." Heritage New Zealand, New Zealand Government, www.heritage.org.nz/the-list/details/94. Accessed 17 June 2024.

"The History of Auckland Museum." Auckland War Memorial Museum, www.aucklandmuseum.com/about-us/history-of-auckland-museum. Accessed 17 June 2024.

McFadden, Suzanne. "Auckland's 175th Anniversary: The Hill of Bitter Memories." New Zealand Herald, 25 Apr. 2015, www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c‗id=1&objectid=11438168. Accessed 17 June 2024.