Women of War Remembered

Women played an important role in both world wars; those with medical training joined the armed forces in Gallipoli, Egypt and the Western Front. The women who stayed in New Zealand tended farms and worked in factories, keeping the home fires burning.

The women of the war years are largely forgotten or portrayed in movies as a side story or love interest before the fighting begins.

The Women of Empire 1914-1918 exhibition pays tribute to the New Zealand and Australian women who played such an important role, both overseas as ambulance drivers, orderlies and motorcycle messengers and at home running businesses, while the menfolk were away.

The moving exhibition shows a collection of stories and costumes from 1914-1918 and is the only one of its kind in Australasia. The exhibition is only showing at three locations in New Zealand during its WW100 commemorations tour; Waiouru, Thames and Nelson.

The original costumes and accessories come from the Dressing Australia Museum of Costume collection by Keith and Fiona Baverstock.

"All costumes are original and have been sourced from around the world," says Keith Baverstock, Exhibition Curator. "The exhibition demonstrates what these extraordinary women were capable of, women who would not have been encouraged to travel and shunned by the medical profession for daring to call themselves a doctor."

The exhibition will also contain nurses' uniforms from the other side of the trenches. "Although the women weren't ANZACs they tended and cared for our soldiers, so they deserve not to be forgotten," Mr Baverstock says with a warm smile.

You can see the inspiring exhibition for yourself at the Thames Memorial Civic Centre between 16 and 26 November. Tickets are available through Eventfinda and the Thames i-Site.

For more information about the Women of Empire 1914-19158 exhibition see our website -www.tcdc.govt.nz/woe

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