Looking back: A shared history, one that shaped our world

Between 2014 and 2018, Pacifi c countries will commemorate the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC) Centenary, marking 100 years since their involvement in the First World War.

World War 1, or the Great War, was a global war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918. More than nine million combatants and seven million civilians died as a result of the war including Australians, New Zealanders and Samoans. It was one of the deadliest confl icts in history, paving the way for major political changes in many of the nations involved.

This year, the New Zealand High Commission, the Ministry of Education, Sports & Culture, the Samoa Observer and the Returned Services Association (RSA) of Samoa are inviting students in Years 11, 12 and 13, to write a fi ctional piece in English in the form of a letter home or a diary entry from the perspective of a Samoan involved in the First World War.

The best entry will win a trip to New Zealand to attend the Anzac Day commemorations on 25 April 2015. Entries will close 13 March, 2015.

Marj Moore spoke to the New Zealand High Commissioner, Her Excellency, Jackie Frizelle about the importance of learning about and commemorating war, and the reasons for the competition.

Samoa Observer (SO): Why is it important for young people in Samoa to learn about Gallipoli and World War 1?

Jackie Frizelle (JF):“World War 1 (WW1) is a part of all of our shared history. It has shaped global politics, it’s shaped the world that we all engage in, so understanding that, I think is important for everyone no matter where they are.

It had very far-reaching impacts that were global. For Samoa specifically, it was the catalyst for New Zealand to occupy Samoa which was the very first act for New Zealand of WWI, so that changed the course of Samoan and New Zealand history to a large extent. So it is very significant in all of our histories. I think it is very important.

There are also family connections as well.

There were Samoans who served; there were some German-Samoans who were interned in New Zealand during that time and that’s had impacts on their families over time, so it is important that young people understand that context, understand that history, because it helped to shape what modern Samoa is today. For New Zealand, it was a bit of a coming of age. We went in, we were seen as a colony of the United Kingdom and we came out – there’s a lovely quote by Ormond Burton, a stretcherbearer at Anzac Cove who later became a highly-decorated infantryman on the Western Front. He famously said that “…somewhere between the landing at ANZAC and the end of the Battle of the Somme, New Zealand very definitely became a nation”. And part of that nationhood kept growing for New Zealand, because of its connection with Samoa. I do believe that the experience New Zealand had during its administration in Samoa and the relationship that formed over the time helped it to understand and see itself as a Pacific nation plus just the number of people we share as a result of that period and the Treaty of Friendship which means there are a large amount of Samoans in both countries and New Zealand sees itself much more as a Pacific country as a result of that experience.”

SO: Are there records of the number and names of Samoans who participated in W.W.1?

JF:“There are some, we don’t know how complete they are. There are names on the war memorials here but there is a short book, ‘La Fitafita Mai Samoa: The Force from Samoa’, by Christine Liava’a. She’s collated the records she could find and it’s just got some short, biographical notes of people from Samoa who served in the First World War including some of those that are not listed on the Clock Tower so there are some additions. A lot of them were colonials or children of colonials, but it also included Samoans as well.”

SO: In New Zealand and Australia, there seems to be renewed interest by young people in the ANZAC Dawn Service ceremony and what it stands for. Why do you think this is?

JF:“I think there are probably a couple of reasons. I think they can connect to some of the values that the people, their own grandparents or earlier generations represented during that period - values of courage, loyalty and sacrifice. I do wonder also, a lot of the generation that went to war, didn’t want to talk about it when they came back. It was not until very late in their lives or even after they’d gone through records, that people started to unpick the stories and those stories are treasures. And I think the younger generation are recognising that; that this is their heritage and that these stories are quite precious. And it’s a part of who they are, so I think there’s some personal and some value– based connections.“

SO: What are the lessons that you would hope, our young people would learn from the research, study and commemoration of those who went to war?

JF:“I think the values will be a part of it, I hope they will be and that human side is quite important and by putting themselves in the shoes of someone who was there, they will have a chance to think about that whole environment and where there was a lot of respect there. There were multinational forces; so there was some cultural tolerance of many people working together as well.

Some of them went for adventure and there’s that sort of element, and the sacrifice, and an appreciation of what others have gone through for future generations. I think there’ll be an appreciation also of the dreadful cost of conflict. It would be a shame to go through that and not actually recognize what a dreadful cost there was in the loss of human life.

Historically I think it will be interesting to learn about Anzac Day, what it’s commemorating, Gallipoli and the story behind that but mainly the reality check of what it might have been really like to have been there and to experience that, and try to put themselves into the shoes of someone who had been there. The other bit of course, is how it affected Samoa’s history. Those stories will be a great resource and it will be neat to be able to use them.”

SO: What will the overall winner do in New Zealand and what will the Highly Recommended winners do here in Samoa?

JF:“The overall winner is going to join up with the winners from three other Pacific countries so that is Niue, Tonga and the Cook Islands and they will go on what is basically an educational and representational tour of New Zealand. They’ll be representing not just their country, but the Pacific as a whole and they will attend a number of WWI 100 years commemoration events culminating in the event on Anzac Day in Wellington which is going to be huge this year. That will be held at Pukeahu National War Memorial Park - it’s a kind of a launch and it’s been built specifically. We’ll put a programme together for them. They’ll tour memorial sites, museums, visit the Defence Force, hopefully talk to some present serving defence force members of Pacific heritage so that they can understand firsthand about present day soldiers. So that’s the plan there.

With the Highly Recommended winners, they’ll be guests of the Anzac partners and the RSA and attend the Dawn Service.

Then there’s a breakfast that follows that so they’ll attend that and they can also join a separate memorial service that we hold up at Magiagi Cemetery to recognize those buried there – New Zealand servicemen who died in Samoa. And if they’re really keen, we have an annual cricket test, between New Zealand and Australia so they can join that if they like. It sounds like we might have a couple of servicemen up here, hopefully of Samoan origin. I think Anzac has been, the whole experience of it has been a real glue for New Zealand and Australia. I think the sense of being in the same region, of being from the same part of the world; there’s a legacy there of having fought side by side.”