Editor's Introduction

Abstract

This issue of the journal is divided into two sections, with the first focusing upon the theme of 'remembering war', the subject of a Stout Centre conference in 2013 in recognition of the First World War centenary. A thought-provoking article by John Bevan-Smith, investigating the cultural utility of the Anzac myth, begins this section. This is followed by an analysis of the reception of Erich Maria Remarque's 1929 novel All Quiet on the Western Front in New Zealand.Steven Loveridge argues, in contrast to the title of the book,that published letters to newspapers reflect a cacophony of different perspectives informing memories of the war. Turning to commemorative images and symbols, Arthur Pomeroy explores the composition of memorial windows, with a particular focus upon the planning and construction of the memorial window in the Hunter Library at Victoria College. The window, he argues, is not just a copy of English styles or of Anglican themes: rather it represents a search for individuality that also drew upon Classical and Christian themes. A very different form of memorialisation is discussed in Peter Cooke's review of the use of captured trophy guns throughout New Zealand in the immediate aftermath of the war. And finally, Jane Latche masks us to remember the boys and girls who came of age during the First World War, as she tracks the lives of the Junior National Scholarship candidates of 1908.

Dan Morrow's exploration of the evolving intellectual discourse accompanying Māori urbanisation during the interwar and post-war periods opens the second section of this issue. Moving to the present, Therese Crocker makes a case for greater public dissemination of the Crown apology to enhance public understanding of the Treaty of Waitangi settlements. And finally, turning to labour history, Melanie Nolan places the 1913 Great Strike within a Trans-Tasman framework, revealing a struggle not only over wages and conditions but also for control of the antipodean labour movement.