The wonderful people from the Auckland War Memorial Museum delivered an Artefact Digitisation Unit (ADU) to the Central Auckland Research Centre.

A what? I hear you say . . . .

Artefact Digitisation Unit (ADU) from Auckland War Memorial Museum

It is an awesome piece of technology that looks kind of like an ATM machine - a kiosk with a computer, touchscreen monitor and a camera.

With its connectivity to the internet, it has direct access to the new Online Cenotaph. 

People can use the ADU to search the Online Cenotaph direct from the Research Centre, and contribute information about the person they are researching - this includes the ability to photograph documents and objects to upload to a subjects record.

The Online Cenotaph itself has been completed re-designed and had been re-launched in January.

There are more than 140,000 service personnel listed, and alots of new content has been added:

• approximately 2,000 new images from Auckland Libraries’ Schmidt Collection of portraits
• direct links with servicemen’s sketches, poems and writing held in the Troopship magazines, which the Museum has now digitised
• around 2,000 additional records of New Zealand servicemen who served in the Australian Imperial Forces (AIF) – purchased for Online Cenotaph by the Ministry for Culture and Heritage
• linking of of 437 records from the Māori Pioneer Battalion with a digital image of their signatures on the Pioneer Scroll, on display in the Scars I gallery
• digitising of the Mickle Album, including the 60 photographs of friends from Birkenhead who volunteered and left New Zealand to fight in WWI

3/4 portrait of Sapper Bertram Charles Robinson, Reg No 12074, of the New Zealand Engineers, No. 2 Field Company. Killed in action in France on 15 November 1916. (Photographer: Herman Schmidt, 1916). Sir George Grey Special Collections, Auckland Libraries, 31-R984. No known copyright

Centenary photographs from Auckland Libraries Heritage Images

The Leith brothers, David and James, both served with the New Zealand Tunnelling Company. Auckland Libraries, 31-L688.

Private Cyril Gladwin Jonkers and family. Auckland Libraries, 31-J1890.

Trooper Thomas Robert Catton with his sisters. Auckland Libraries, 31-C1942.

It is always wonderful when a customer comes to the Central Auckland Research Centre with a family history query that results in the staff learning more about the materials held in our collections. Recently, we had a person researching soldiers with the New Zealand Expeditionary Force that served in the Pacific Islands. 

Beyond our expanding collection of Pacific Island family history materials, these additional resources were ‘discovered’ within the Research Centre that are noteworthy. 


Ref: AWNS-19431013-22-1, Soldiers of the New Zealand Expeditionary Force in the Pacific, 1943, Sir George Grey Special Collections

The Pacific Island Monthly, which tends to be referred to as PIM, is held on microfilm in the Research Centre for the period 1936 to1942 but the real gem is the accompanying PIM Cumulative Index,1930-1945. It is in book format and provides coverage for the same dates. The contents are listed by names as well as subject and is divided into sections; a few to note are aircraft, ships, territories, biographical entries. Poems and short stories were even featured in many of the issues. Social events were frequently reported in PIM, and marriage announcements often included a portrait of the newlyweds.
The Pacific Islands Year Books (available for 1932 to 1959)  are a good source of general information about the island groups. The editions, which include a Who's Who section, contain biographical entries of individuals who have contributed to the Pacific communities.


Ref: Front cover of the first edition, 1932, Auckland Libraries.

 The Unofficial Histories of the Third Division, 2nd NZEF IP are the "series of  thirteen unofficial narratives detailing the activities of the units of the Third New Zealand Division and its base organisation during their service in the Pacific theatre of war from 1940. . . . until 1944, when the division was disbanded."  Some of the titles within the series are Pacific Pioneers, Pacific Service and Shovel, Sword and Scalpel. They contain fabulous content such as this entertaining entry from Pacific Kiwis, Chapter 9, written by Joe Grindlay, a regular contributor to the Koumac Kronicle, the battalion news sheet.  Joe’s civilian profession before and after the war was as a school teacher.

     As a Kiwi who has never visited the States
     I have often tried to visualise its scenes,
     And judging by the rations that we find upon our plates,
     The only crop they grow there must be beans.

     We have beans cooked with bacon, and have beans dished up with hash,
     How I often wish we had a change of greens,
     Or perhaps a large and tasty dish of sausages and mash
     As a change from endless dixies full of beans and beans and beans.

                                                                  ~ Pte. Douglas Joseph "Deejay" Grindlay
                                                 
If you are unable to come into the Central Auckland Research Centre, this series is also available for reading online through the New Zealand Electronic Text Collection (NZETC) along with many other war histories.  The appendix to the Pacific Kiwis includes the 30th Battalion Roll of soldiers who sailed on the Rangatira.

My colleague recommends a very useful feature when using the NZETC, which is the ability to do a name search in 'this document' or 'this corpus' for more precise search results.

Kind regards
Karen

Where will you be commemorating Anzac Day this year?

In Auckland, the biggest focus is always on the dawn service at the Auckland War Memorial Museum.

This year the Museum's Illuminate 2013 ran from April 22-24 in the evenings and

"focuses on the contributions and sacrifices of Pacific peoples alongside the Maori Battalion and the foundation this created for enduring ties between our countries and for Pacific self-governance. The archival footage was edited by Illuminate guest curator Pita Turei. With thanks to Archives New Zealand."

Although Symonds Street Cemetery was closed to new burial plots in 1886, people continued to be buried there if they had family already there right up until 1950s - from the end of 1909, they had the added requirement of needing to also be over 50 years of age.
  

Full length portrait of Private William Parker, Reg No 38740, of the Auckland Infantry Regiment, 22nd Reinforcements, - E Company. Killed in action in France on 4th October 1917 at the Battle of Passchendaele. Heritage Images: 'Sir George Grey Special Collections, Auckland Libraries, 31-P2442'


However, there are 11 names associated with World War One noted in the Cemetery. Memorials were erected for soldiers lost in action. These are:

• Sapper Walter Edwin Clarke (4/516) who was killed in action on Gallipoli on 7 August 1915.
• Sapper Alfred Ernest Drummond (12/2687) who was killed in action in France on 4 October 1917.
• Private Walter Drummond (12/3307) who was killed in action in France on 26 September 1916.
• Private Thomas William Hobson (12/3681) who was killed in action in France on 7 July 1916.
• Corporal Leonard Ivy Joseph McCarthy (24663) who was killed in action in France on 17 February 1918.
• Private Ernest Wieland Monk of the Royal Fusiliers who died in France on 12 March 1916.
• Lance Corporal Charles Stanley Nicholson (23/535) who was killed in action in France on 15 September 1916.
• Corporal Edward John Parker (2/2896) who was killed in action in France on 26 September 1918.
• Private William Parker (38740) who was killed in action in France on 4 October 1917.
• Rifleman Stanley William Rowe (26690) who was killed in action in France on 12 June 1917.
• Wesley Neal Spragg, Royal Flying Corps, who was killed in action in Egypt on 1 January 1918.

David Verran

PS - Don't forget you can contribute
your ANZAC story to our
Trans-Tasman ANZAC Day Blog Challenge