The Te Papa Museum, the Scale of our War exhibition has been extended until ANZAC Day, 25 April 2025. If you see nothing else in Wellington, New Zealand, the Scale of Our War exhibition at Te Papa Museum is the one thing that you should do.
In collaboration with the Weta Workshop crew, Te Papa has put on this extraordinary story of the experiences of the men and women who served in World War 1. Not only is it free to enter the Scale of Our War Exhibition (and to enter the museum), but it also takes at least one hour (it took me 2 hours for the first time and an hour and a half the second) to go around this space.
Level 2 of the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa is where you will find this exhibit.
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The Scale of Our War Exhibition
Lt. Spencer Westmacott
Upon entering the first room, you find a giant life-like model of Lt. Spencer Westmacott, and this is where the Weta Workshop comes into action. The Weta Workshop team made the giant life-like figures portraying these people, and I mean life-like. The detail is incredible, down to the stubble on faces, and beads of sweat and tears. It is almost as if they are going to come to life right in front of you.
Not only is he the first person you see in The Scale of Our War, but he was one of the first New Zealand men to land at Gallipoli and charge up the hill to support the Australians already there. He was so severely wounded on that first day that he ended up having his right arm amputated. After a long and trying rehabilitation, he was sent to France to train soldiers. While in France, he painted, portraying his time in Gallipoli of the people, battles and surroundings.
Col. Percival Fenwick
You are next taken into the room with Dr Percival Fenwick. During the South African War, he had been a military surgeon before emigrating to New Zealand. He was also one of the first at Gallipoli, later commenting, ‘It does not matter what Anzac Cove is called. Perhaps it will someday be known as Bloody Beach Bay. God knows we have paid heavily for it.’
Dr Fenwick not only kept a diary (which was against the rules) but also took photos from a 3D camera (also against the rules). You can view them at the exhibition. He helped organise a truce with the Turks so that both sides could bury their dead. The toll of two months of such a bloody war took too much from him. He was evacuated back to England with what would now be called PTSD.
This is one of the most poignant scenes in The Scale of Our War exhibition.
As you move from room to room, not only do you have the stories of these brave men and women, but the history through dioramas, models, artefacts and interactive experiences which help capture the time, emotion and feeling of what these people went through.
Private Jack Dunn
The story of Private Jack Dunn is one of the many amazing tales of what goes on in any war and is the saddest story in The Scale of Our War exhibition.
As a machine gunner, Jack was one of the elite and needed men on the front line. Jack became sick from all the disease, unhygienic conditions and flies crawling around. He was evacuated on 1 June 1915 to Lemnos to recover.
On 16 June, he was back. Because he was still not fully recovered, Jack fell asleep while on sentry duty, which was punishable by death. He was court-martialed and sentenced to death on 18 June before General Hamilton remitted the sentence on 30 July. The General took into account his excellent record and character and that he was still under the influence of his illness.
Unfortunately, Jack was one of the many to die in the Battle for Chunuk Bair between 6-10 August, depicted in the next rooms.
Lt. Colin Warden, Cpl. Friday Hawkins and Pvt. Rikihana Carkeek
The story of these men in The Scale of Our War exhibition is probably not uncommon in wartime.
Machine Gunners Lieutenant Colin Warden, Corporal Friday Hawkins and Private Rikihana Carkeek were holding back the Turks at Rhododendron Ridge. Lieutenant Colin Warden was the first to fall, with a bullet knocking him back. He managed to say, “Carry on, boys”, before taking his last breath. Private Friday Hawkins was shot in the wrist after taking the gun from Corporal Donald Ferris, who had been shot in the head. Private Carkeet was then next to take the gun before being shot through the body at the base of the neck. He managed to drag himself down to get help. Both Friday and Rikihana survived the war.
Lottie Le Gallais
The only woman on display was one of the nurses on the hospital ship, Maheno. She was supposed to meet up with her brother Leddie, but unfortunately, he was killed in action a month before she arrived in Egypt. She did not find out he was dead until a few months into her deployment. It was in Gallipoli, when letters arrived from home, that she learned her brother’s fate. Her absolute devastation on hearing the news is captured so well by the Weta Workshops team. Not long after, she returned home to New Zealand on the Maheno, and her time in the war finished.
It’s also great that women are represented in this The Scale of Our War exhibition.
Sgt. Cecil Malthus
After many films shot in Gallipoli and more boards filled with information, we come to the last room, the Western Front.
After the evacuation of Gallipoli, men spent time in Egypt recuperating before being sent to the Western Front.
It is in this last room that we find the horrors of war continued for many, including Sergeant Cecil Malthus.
After surviving illness in Gallipoli, Cecil was stationed at Armentières, where gas attacks and artillery fire were the norm. Cecil’s spade hit an unseen bomb, and his foot was severely wounded. He said to his wife in a letter, ‘I have had my usual marvellous luck, or I would not be alive at all … ‘
He survived the war (without the toes of his right foot),
The stories portrayed in this exhibition show us the bravery and courage under fire that these men and women endured.
I hope this blog will inspire you to visit The Scale of Our War, in the Te Papa Museum. Hopefully, you’ll find it as moving as I did.
Lest we Forget.
Where It Is
The Te Papa Museum, where The Scale of Our War exhibition is held, is at 55 Cable Street, Wellington. It’s easy to find if you are walking along the waterfront as it’s the only large building before you start turning towards Oriental Bay.
Hours
Daily 10.00 am -6 pm except for Christmas Day.
Admission
Free
Conclusion
I can’t recommend the exhibition, The Scale of Our War, in the Te Papa Museum highly enough.
Informative, moving, inspiring, unimaginable and more words than I can think of are in this one space everyone should see.
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Another amazing blog really enjoyed the story behind the exhibits I have been to that museum and found it very interesting place to visit I hope many people get to visit
Thanks Kathy. I’ve been twice now, once at the beginning of December and this week and there were a lot of people both times. In December we had classes of kids and queues to get in as well even though it’s been running for a few years.