When our Wellington guide, Robbie, found out that we were very interested in military history, he added a special extra to our tour. The Dominion Museum is holding a special Great War Exhibition, telling the story of New Zealand in World War One. The exhibition was created by Sir Peter Jackson, so naturally it is spectacular and very moving. The museum is next to Wellington's cenotaph and the two are linked by a series of two-dimensional soldiers lining the entry ramp. Sir Peter's crew have really brought exhibits to life. Two that really impressed this small bear are the tank crossing a trench full of German soldiers, and a mounted troop hauling artillery to the front while a French aircraft passes overhead. The exhibit that is the most impressive that I have ever seen took up a whole room. It is a diorama of the battle of Chunuk Bair at Gallipoli. This battle has the same significance to New Zealand as the Lone Pine battle (which took place at the same time) has to Australia. The diorama contains literally thousands of small figures of New Zealand and Ottoman Turk soldiers, nearly all different. You can identify NZ Major-general Godley and his staff, NZ soldier Cyril Bassett who earned the VC for his effort laying telephone cable, and there is even a combat cameraman. Robbie told us that Sir Peter had modeled this little guy on himself. Of course, Sir Peter wasn't at Gallipoli; he was born in 1961 😜. We really enjoyed our day with Robbie. If you are ever visiting Wellington, look him up on the "Tours by Locals" web page, you won't do better. The exhibition will be open until the end of 2018.
Labels: aircraft, models, New Zealand
# posted by Bart Bear @ 12:56 pm
