Home Front Auckland Museum

Overview

Courage has many resting places. The letters, keepsakes, family photos, postcards and memoirs from families separated during the First World War are a great testament of this, and are now being proudly displayed as part of the Home Front exhibition at the Auckland War Memorial Museum.

We are one of the last generations to make claim to the living testimony of men, women and children who were affected by the world wars. Give it another five years and there will be no man alive who can share his direct battlefield experiences of World War One. Give it another fifty years and the same could just as easily be said of World War Two. However, unfortunate as this may be it is not simply those on the front line who have stories of courage, conflict and resilience, but also those on the home front.

One of the initiatives of this exhibition is to explore the sometimes overlooked aspects of home life during the war. A great sense of humanity was displayed by families, neighbours and strangers left behind. Uncertainty was at the doorstep of all New Zealanders. Whether or not their loved ones would soon be there also was another question.

Home Front is the third in a series of exhibitions which pay tribute to the WWI centenary and will be on display 26 February - 13 November, 2016.