Donating to Online Cenotaph
Help us tell the stories of our military personnel for future generations
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, but we need your help to fulfil our potential for years to come.
25 years of Online Cenotaph
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.
What would you be contributing to...
We are a small team of three and work with a team of amazing volunteers and your donation will go towards increasing the range of stories being told on Online Cenotaph by enabling us to collaborate with veterans, creators, community members and researchers through interviews, digital storytelling and other creative outputs. The options are endless, but our budget is not. We would love if you would consider donating to Online Cenotaph to help us tell the stories of our military personnel for future generations.
Victoria Passau and Malayan Veteran Peter Gallacher interview March 2021.
© Auckland Museum, photographed by Richard Ng.
The following publication reflects the range of individuals who have contributed to this collective resource: a social historian, volunteer, descendent, military historian, museum worker, and a contributor. In interviews with freelance writer Sarah Ell, each person shared their relationship with Online Cenotaph, what the database means to them, and how they believe its impact ripples out into the wider world.
Learn a bit more about the history of Online Cenotaph by clicking through the timeline