War in Paradise

WAR IN PARADISE 

Saturday 25 August 2007 to Monday 28 January 2008 

Museum of Wellington City & Sea, Queens Wharf, Wellington (open daily, 10am to 5pm, free entry) 

The story of the Third New Zealand Division in New Caledonia during World War II is told through an installation of photographs by the official war photographers and extracts from the Division’s unofficial history series, published at the end of the war. The exhibition explores the soldiers’ experiences and notions of the place they were in, how they related to the local people – Kanak, French, Indonesian and Vietnamese – and how they coped with living in “the Paris of the Pacific” while preparing to confront the Japanese.

Alongside the historic images is a fresh look at New Caledonia and the New Zealand War Cemetery and Memorial in Bourail through an installation of recent photographs by respected New Zealand photographer Paul Thompson.

Installation designer David Waller has combined the old and new imagery to create a revelatory environment, a unique view of life in a Pacific country during a time of war. Complementing this, a soundscape commissioned from Plan 9 recreates the popular New Zealand, American and French music from the period and blends it with Kaneka beats and rhythms.

Exhibition developed in partnership with Association Passé de Bourail, Musée de Bourail. Historic images with permission of Archives New Zealand/Te Rua Mahara o te Kawanatanga.

“But although the bures burn and Kanakas haunt our former home,
old memories never die.” Base Wallahs, 1946

Drawing inspiration from the dirt, gravel & niaouli trees of New Caledonia, Footnote Dance perform works especially devised by Deirdre Tarrant for War in Paradise. Don’t miss this chance to see New Zealand's national professional contemporary dance company. Entry by koha.

“Calm, contemplative and full of care, this might be the best dance Footnote has ever done.”  DomPost Tues 18 Sept 2007.

New Zealand-New Caledonia Seminar

The New Zealand-New Caledonia seminar is being held at the Museum of City and Sea in Wellington on Thursday 23 and Friday 24 August.

Thursday 23 August

9.00 – welcome to seminar participants
9.15 – Frédéric Angleviel, ‘Les relations entre la Nouvelle-Calédonie et la Nouvelle-Zélande, hier et aujourd’hui’
9.45 – Darrell Tryon, ‘Documenting French in the Pacific: a long-standing neighbourly interest’
10.15 – discussion / Q&A
10.30 – morning tea
11.00 – Peter Tremewan, ‘Missionary contacts between New Zealand and New Caledonia in the nineteenth century’
11.30 – Essertel Yannick, ‘L’évangélisation en Nouvelle-Calédonie et en Nouvelle-Zélande: étude comparative de deux phases pionnières de 1838 à 1853’
12.00 – discussion / Q&A
12.15 – lunch in downtown Wellington
2.00 – Adrian Muckle, ‘Neo lands in Oceania: New Zealand and New Caledonia’
2.30 – Michel Perez, ‘Les relations diplomatiques entre la Nouvelle-Calédonie et la Nouvelle-Zélande – Parallel Histories, Converging Destinies’
3.00 – discussion / Q&A
3.15 – afternoon tea
3.45 – François Garde, ‘Visages de la souveraineté autochtone en Nouvelle-Zélande et Nouvelle Calédonie’
4.15 – Paul D’Arcy, ‘Fluid partnerships: marine resources and community development in New Caledonia and New Zealand’
4.45 – discussion / Q&A
5.00 – end of first day’s programme
6.30 – dinner at Wellington restaurant

Friday 24 August

9.00 – welcome to second day’s seminar
9.15 – Christian Huetz de Lemps, ‘Les voyageurs français en Nouvelle-Zélande’
9.45  – Gilles Pestana, ‘Deux voisins dans la mondialisation: les relations économiques entre la Nouvelle-Zélande et la Nouvelle-Calédonie’
10.15 – discussion / Q&A
10.30 – morning tea
11.00 – Sarah Powell, ‘Qu’en est-il de l’amour? Le biculturalisme dans les littératures de Kanaky/Nouvelle-Calédonie et d’Aotearoa/Nouvelle-Zélande’
11.30 – Peter Brown, ‘New Caledonian and New Zealand literature’
12.00 – discussion / Q&A
12.15 – lunch in downtown Wellington
2.00 – Sylvette Boyer, ‘La coopération franco-néo-zélandaise durant la première guerre mondiale, de Nouméa à Apia’
2.30 – Dominique Lataste, ‘Les poèmes Calédoniens du soldat W. E. Scott, NZEPIP’
3.00 – discussion / Q&A
3.15 – afternoon tea
3.30 – Ian McGibbon, ‘New Zealand, New Caledonia and the South Pacific War’
4.00 – Opening of ‘War in Paradise’ exhibition as part of the ‘New Caledonia New Zealand Season’

War in Paradise images