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Te Papa Tongarewa

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Road to Recovery: Disabled soldiers of World War I

Road to Recovery: Disabled soldiers of World War I reflects on the unimaginable physical destruction caused by the war. The exhibition explores how New Zealand soldiers disabled in the hostilities were supported to regain their personal and economic independence.

Large-scale exhibition prints taken during the last year of the war poignantly illustrate some of these efforts at self-reliance. The photographs are displayed with examples of handwork carefully crafted by soldiers recovering in hospital, and returned veterans whose disabilities made it impossible for them to hold down full-time jobs.

Road to Recovery was conceived as part of Te Papa’s four-year Conflict and Identity programme. It draws on research undertaken for the Te Papa Press publication Holding on to Home: New Zealand Stories and Objects of the First World War, by Kate Hunter and Kirstie Ross.

Tour schedule

National Army Museum, Waioru25 Apr 2018 – mid-2019

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Photographing New Zealand’s limbless soldiers of WWI

In 1918, the New Zealand army commissioned photographs of servicemen who had lost limbs during the war. This was part of a government scheme to show that these men were still competent and employable.

Holding on to Home: New Zealand Stories and Objects of the First World War

A powerfully human and compelling illustrated history of New Zealand’s war experience.

The after care of disabled soldiers

World War I saw the mutilation of men’s bodies on an unprecedented scale: around 1,000 New Zealand servicemen had limbs amputated due to the horrendous effects of shellfire and ‘gas gangrene’. We have a collection of 28 exhibition prints showing limbless men attending the workshops and other facilities at Oatlands Park.