Wētā Workshop to create 'living memorial' at town liberated by Kiwi troops in WWI

Saturday, 23 April 2022

George Butler's painting depicting the New Zealand troops successful assault of Le Quesnoy on November 4, 1918. The French town will host a ‘living memorial’ to the troops who liberated it in 1918.

The scene of New Zealand's last major action in World War I will become a living memorial to those involved, and the nation’s wartime legacy.

A 19th Century mansion in the northern French town of Le Quesnoy will become a museum and visitor centre that will tell the story of the Kiwi diggers who scaled the ancient walls with a ladder to liberate the town.

Wētā Workshop has been charged with designing an immersive experience for visitors. Senior creative director Andrew Thomas said the aim was to create a focal point for New Zealanders on the former Western Front, in the same way Chunuk Bair had become a beacon for the country’s involvement in the Gallipoli campaign.

“With Gallipoli being at the start of the war, it’d be a nice way to bookend New Zealand’s story,” he said.

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The New Zealand Museum Trust will convert this historic mansion into a museum that will host Wētā Workshop’s interactive memorial.

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A friendship that started in war time between a small French town and their New Zealand liberators has stood the test of time.

Working with the New Zealand Memorial Museum Trust – Le Quesnoy, Wētā hopes to open the first phase of the experience on Anzac Day 2023, with a second stage to be unveiled the following year.

Thomas said the living memorial would use the narratives of New Zealand diggers, civilians and even a German solider to tell the story of the town’s liberation, while providing context around the wider history of the war.

The town was liberated on November 4, 1918, after four years of German occupation. A week later, the Armistice came into effect.

The team from Wētā’s location-based experience team would draw on its experience creating the Gallipoli: The Scale of Our War exhibition at Wellington’s Te Papa.

“[We’re using] cinematic story telling that is respectful of those involved.”

The fortress town has maintained close ties with New Zealand following the war. A monument was unveiled to its troops in 1923, and streets and localities have been named after the likes of former Prime Minister Helen Clark, the All Blacks and Leslie Averill, who led troops up the ladder onto the city’s ramparts.

The memorial will coincide with 2023 Rugby World Cup in France and the 2024 Paris Summer Olympics, giving more travelling New Zealanders and people from around the world the opportunity to visit.