https://dx.doi.org/10.32912/bulletin/21/6
Abstract
On Anzac Day 2015, the Pukeahu National War Memorial Park in Wellington, officially opened to the public. With the National War Memorial, dedicated in 1932, at its heart, the development of the park was the government’s key project to acknowledge the centenary of the First World War. The park shared its opening with another First World War commemorative initiative, The Great War Exhibition at the nearby former National Art Gallery and Dominion Museum building. In my role as Senior Historian–Educator I sought to establish an education programme at Pukeahu that would use an inquiry-based approach to encourage students to think critically about the National War Memorial and the wider themes of commemoration and remembrance. Students as young as eight years old would gather round the Tomb of the Unknown Warrior and when asked ‘who is buried inside?’ would reply that the soldier interred within was someone who had ‘died for us’, ‘a hero’.
These answers highlighted the need for our teaching to strike a balance that allowed space for empathy and emotion—valid responses in the context of a war memorial—while encouraging a more critical acknowledgement as to why the tomb exists in the first place (see Baird, this volume). Remembering ‘the fallen’ is steeped in traditions that can be difficult to challenge or question. They reflect practices in which those participating have rarely had a say in creating yet are required to dutifully observe. Young New Zealanders visiting Pukeahu need to be supported in thinking critically about such practices to enable informed reflection. This is an autoethnographic article in which I share my observations of teaching at Pukeahu between its opening in April 2015 and the Passchendaele centenary in October 2017. It examines the impact of the wider First World War centenary commemorations on the education programme and the pedagogy adopted to help students gain a deeper understanding of the impact of war on the nation.
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Citation
Watters, Steve. 2020. 'He died for us': the challenge of applying critical thinking at Pukahu National War Memorial Par, 2015-17. Bulletin of the Auckland Museum. 21: 33–38. https://dx.doi.org/10.32912/bulletin/21/6