Anzac Day Commemorations In France To Remember All New Zealand Soldiers

Anzac Day commemorations will see hundreds visit a New Zealand museum in France which has become a place of pilgrimage for families discovering stories about relatives who served on the Western Front.

The New Zealand Liberation Museum – Te Arawhata, with a visitor experience created by Wētā Workshop, tells the story of the Kiwi soldiers who liberated the French town of Le Quesnoy on November 4, 1918. Te Arawhata marks Anzac Day with a weekend of remembrance from April 25 – 27.

Museum Director, Elizabeth Wratislav, says since the museum opened in 2023 it has revealed many poignant and often untold stories about soldiers who served during World War One.

“The museum has inspired visitors and family members to find out more about their relatives, the part they played in the war, and to delve deeper into the lives they lived after the war.”

These stories include 16-year-old Otago Boys High School student Cameron Brown who visited Le Quesnoy to trace the history of his great grandfather, Frederick Lyders; Jim Craig whose family discovered a 100-year-old letter he wrote detailing the events of the liberation; and the survival tale of Mac Bethwaite whose son Dave visited Te Arawhata last year.

“Seeing the emotional response visitors have to the museum is one of the most rewarding parts of the job,” says Wratislav.

“It is incredibly touching to know that the stories of these people will live on, they will be documented for future generations of these families, and that Te Arawhata had a part to play in it.”

Remembering Harry

For Sydney-based Kiwi, Sally Varnham, visiting the museum and Le Quesnoy in March this year instilled a deep connection with her father Harry who was wounded during the Liberation and lost his leg.

"It was very emotional just to be there and to see dad's name on the Roll of Honour that comes up on the museum wall," says Sally. "It all became real rather than something that happened on the other side of the world.”

Sadly, while Harry survived and returned to New Zealand, he was impacted both physically and mentally by the war. He spent periods of time in Wellington Hospital suffering from severe depression until he tragically took his own life aged 73. Sally was just 20 years old.

"He felt alienated in New Zealand when he came back," Sally says. "He wanted to go back to Britain where people were much more aware of what had happened. He felt more comfortable there."

Anzac Day renaissance

Anzac Day was particularly difficult for the Varnham family. Sally recalls in earlier times Dawn Parades were not as well-attended as they are today.

"Dad used to go off to the Dawn Parade every Anzac Day and come home 'shickered' after a few drinks at the RSA and he would be quite down because no one went to services back then.

"I think he would be so amazed by how many people attend the parades now.”

Ms Wratislav says with 2025 marking the 110th anniversary of the April 25th landings at Anzac Cove, it is an especially significant time to remember all New Zealand soldiers.

“Te Arawhata is Aotearoa’s tūrangawaewae, New Zealand’s place on the Western Front. The museum is a place where all Kiwis, and people from all countries, can come to remember all those who served and lost their lives during war time.”

As is tradition in Le Quesnoy, Anzac Day is commemorated on the nearest Sunday to April 25. Te Arawhata is holding a weekend of remembrance beginning on Friday April 25 and concluding with the town’s official commemorations on Sunday April 27.

The next generation

This month, in the lead up to Anzac Day, dozens of students from Auckland Grammar, Epsom Girls Grammar, and New Plymouth Boys High School are visiting Te Arawhata to pay their respects to fallen Kiwi soldiers, and to learn more about World War One and the relationship between France and New Zealand.

Auckland Grammar student Andrew Eldridge says visiting the Western Front and Te Arawhata brought home the reality of what 100,000 Kiwi soldiers experienced.

“Many of them were our age. It’s incredibly humbling to see these people doing what I don't think I would be capable of doing.

“It's important we remember the stories of bravery, but we also need to learn lessons so that future generations don't experience what these people experienced. That’s why it's important to visit places like Te Arawhata where you can see what they saw and feel what they felt.”

Te Arawhata’s visitor experience features a large-scale, hyper-realistic soldier from the NZ Rifle Brigade caught in a moment of reflection following the liberation. In the museum’s Te Ara Tuku Room visitors leave personal messages on the walls to be read by those who follow them. The museum’s 7.4m centrepiece, Te Arawhata (the ladder), is key to the Le Quesnoy story and represents a pathway to gaining a higher level of knowledge.

Every year thousands of people visit the museum including travelling Kiwis, our local French, British and European weekend tourists, corporate groups, and schools from both France and New Zealand.

“It’s not just Kiwis visiting Te Arawhata and Le Quesnoy,” says David McLean, chairperson of the New Zealand Memorial Museum Trust. “The museum has helped to put the town on the local tourist map with Kiwis, French locals and visitors from neighbouring Belgium, Holland, and Germany visiting to celebrate our values of freedom, friendship and learning from the past to support a better future.”

For ANZAC events at Te Arawhata see below or go to: https://nzliberationmuseum.com/anzac-day-2025/

Te Arawhata Anzac events schedule

Museum open every day.

Friday 25 April

• Te Arawhata will offer guided tours of the museum and Le Quesnoy’s imposing 17th century ramparts.
• Last Post ceremony – 6pm. Held in Te Arawhata’s forecourt, the Last Post Ceremony is a moment to reflect on the sacrifices of the ANZAC soldiers 110 years ago.

Saturday 26 April

• Walk from Te Arawhata to the Le Quesnoy Communal Cemetery Extension – 8.30am. The cemetery is the final resting place of 50 New Zealand soldiers.
• Le-Quesnoy-New Zealand Association bus tour of nearby towns of Beaudignies, Romeries and Vertigneul – 10am
• Anzac Dinner – 7pm. A three-course, authentic French meal for locals and Kiwis to celebrate a friendship that has lasted 107 years. Features a kapa haka performance by Ngāti Rānana, the London Māori Club.

Sunday 27 April

• Le Quesnoy Anzac Commemorative Service – 11am. This will be attended by dignitaries from New Zealand and France, locals and Kiwi visitors. A reception will follow the service, open to all who wish to attend.

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