It commemorates the sacrifice of those who died serving New Zealand in this and all wars and armed conflict, but especially the so-called "Great War" of 1914 to 1918.
New Zealand's population in 1914 was 1.1 million; we sent 100,000 men and women abroad, mainly to the Middle East and France, of whom 16,700 died and over 40,000 were wounded.
This was a higher per capita casualty rate than any other country involved.
This image, of New Zealand machine-gunners in action against the Turks, is from Images of War: World War One, by Glyn Harper, (HarperCollins, $59.99 pbk), is one of the larger photographs, most of which, apparently, have never before been published.
Many were sourced from thousands held in family albums and taken "unofficially" by participants.
They tell in pictures a story I should not expect many readers would want to see, but an important one nevertheless from an historical viewpoint. - Bryan James.
