The Great War Exhibition - extended hours over Anzac weekend

Media release – 22 April 2016

The Great War Exhibition is open extended hours over Anzac weekend

The Great War Exhibition, created by Sir Peter Jackson and supported by ANZ, is open over the school holidays including Anzac Day from 9am to 6pm. It is opening for extended hours this weekend, remaining open until 8pm on Saturday 23rd April and Sunday 24th April to allow people to go straight from the Exhibition to see the Light and Sound show in Pukeahu National War Memorial Park.

Ian Wards, Curatorial Manager at the Exhibition, expects visitors over Anzac weekend will be particularly interested in the ANZ Gallipoli Room. Artefacts on display include large guns, a huge diorama with over 5,000 tiny figurines showing the battle for Chunuk Bair and colourised photographs showing the hardships endured by those who fought there 101 years ago.

In addition the Exhibition has an original Horace Moore-Jones painting from Sir Peter Jackson’s private collection. Perhaps one of the most iconic images of the battles at Gallipoli, the painting depicts a medic using a donkey to evacuate injured soldiers from the battle field.

Moore-Jones painted six similar works in Dunedin in 1918. While the paintings are referred to as “Simpson and his Donkey” they actually depict a different man, Henderson. Moore-Jones completed the works back in New Zealand using a photograph which he thought showed John Simpson, a stretcher bearer with the 1st Australian Division at Gallipoli.

However the photograph was actually of Private Richard Henderson who served with the New Zealand Medical Corps at Gallipoli and on the Western Front. Henderson received a Military Medal for repeatedly rescuing wounded soldiers from the battlefield while under heavy fire at the Battle of the Somme in France later in the war.

Another of Moore-Jones’ paintings has been on loan at The Great War Exhibition for the last year and will soon be returned to the Canterbury Officers’ Club.

Mike Sheppard, Club Secretary at the Canterbury Officers’ Club which owns the painting, says it will be good to have the painting back although it was fantastic to be able to display it at The Great War Exhibition. “To have two of the paintings together was a great opportunity and we were delighted to be able to contribute to the Exhibition in this way.

Further information about The Great War Exhibition, including the latest news and upcoming events can be found on our website http://www.greatwarexhibition.nz/

© Scoop Media