Imagining Arabia Heads to Auckland Museum

In recent weeks, I have been up at Auckland War Memorial Museum doing some research for the project. In doing so, I realised (as I have so many times over the past year and a half) what a rich treasure-trove of New Zealand’s Middle Eastern history is out there, once you start looking for it.  Here are some highlights from my recent visit.

You don’t even have to enter the museum to be confronted with New Zealand’s long relationship with the Middle East. Getting out of the car on my first day of research I found it right there in front of me, inscribed in the very architecture of the museum. As a war memorial, Auckland Museum bears a roll-call of New Zealand battles from World War One to Vietnam. I took this photo of the 1916-1918 Palestine Campaign memorial on the western wall of the museum, as it was struck by the afternoon sun. Interestingly, the war in Palestine is given greater prominence here than on other New Zealand war memorials, appearing as a mirror-image of the Gallipoli memorial on the eastern wall.      ​

Auckland War Memorial Museum, PH-ALB-495-1

​The AWMM houses the five souvenir photo albums that Sergeant John Starr collected during the Second World War. Each of the albums was unique in its material and design, but this album of ‘Views of Jerusalem’ stood out. It is a small album, each page only big enough for one photo, but the front and back were embellished with decorated wooden blocks, that appear to have been glued over top of the original leather covers. These blocks have been hand painted with the words ‘Souvenir of the Holy Land’, ‘Jerusalem’, and a scene of 'Rachel’s Tomb'. Souvenir albums were popular with New Zealand soldiers in the Middle East, but I have never seen one like this before, with such a high level of customisation done to the cover.    

Jack Peat Album, Auckland War Memorial Museum, PH-ALB-259

​Last, but certainly not least, I present the wonderfully titled ‘Bottle of flies with lizard on top’. The bemused look on the soldier's face, combined with a title that sounds like a still-life painting, make this one of those strange gems that often emerge from archival research. Will this photo prove a useful source? Probably not. Did it make me laugh when I saw it? Absolutely. Will I ever find a better photo caption than this? No, I most certainly won't.
 
-Josh