As Auckland’s War Memorial we share the stories of our veterans by undertaking interviews, blog posts and social media. We find many living veterans and their families are still looking for recognition of their service and wanting to share their experiences. The Museum is working hard to expand the voices being shared on Online Cenotaph so that more of our communities can access this taonga. We are so excited to recognise this significant milestone in digital commemoration.

December 2021 marked 25 years of Online Cenotaph. It is amazing to think that we have been telling the stories of Aotearoa New Zealand’s military veterans and their comrades for a quarter century. The original Cenotaph Database was established in 1996 as a database to commemorate those Aucklanders who died during World War One. Over the past quarter century Online Cenotaph has grown to a resource of more than 250,000 records spanning 40 conflicts. It has become New Zealand’s most trusted resource for sharing the stories of our service personnel and we could not be prouder. 

We would love if you would consider donating to Online Cenotaph to help us tell the stories of our military personnel for future generations.

We will add links to Online Cenotaph 25th anniversary content throughout 2022.

Learn a bit more about the history of Online Cenotaph by clicking through the timeline. Click here to open in a new tab.