Ministry for Culture and Heritage
Media Advisory
10 December 2009
www.NZhistory.net.nz Publication And Online Resource on the Battle of River Plate
This weekend official commemorations will mark the 70th anniversary of the Battle of River Plate.
In Wellington commemorations will be held at the National War Memorial on Saturday 12 December at 9am. The
Governor-General, the Hon Sir Anand Satyanand, and the Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage Hon Christopher
Finlayson, along with New Zealand battle veterans will attend the event.
A service will be held in Montevideo, Uruguay this month, and will be attended by New Zealand Ambassador to Uruguay,
Lucy Duncan and New Zealand’s Former Chief of Navy and current Washington-based Defence Advisor, Commodore David Anson.
To mark the anniversary, General Editor War History Ian McGibbon at the Ministry for Culture and Heritage has produced
an online resource describing the battle and the critical role of the New Zealand ship, HMS Achilles. The feature
includes text, photographs, War Art Collection paintings, interactive maps, oral history recordings and historic radio
news reports recounting the battle.
Ian McGibbon’s text has been translated into Spanish and, with the support of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and
Trade’s Latin America Strategy Fund, published as a booklet for distribution by the Uruguayan Naval Museum.
The Ministry’s publication and online resource can be accessed at: http://www.nzhistory.net.nz/war/battle-of-river-plate
A PDF of the Spanish pamphlet is available at: http://mfat.govt.nz/downloads/foreign-relations/latinamerica/battle-riverplate-spanish.pdf
High resolution images of the battle are available for download from the following link: http://www.mch.govt.nz/media-centre-images.html
ENDS