One of the core missions of Te Arawhata is education – we want to share the story of the liberation of Le Quesnoy so that young people better understand the futility of war and the importance of friendship.
In line with this mission, Te Arawhata team members have been taking advantage of the quieter winter season to visit local schools.
Marketing and Operations Manager Jacob Siermans was invited to Landrecies’s Dupleix High School to present on the business strategies behind the creation and marketing of a museum like Te Arawhata. In two well-attended sessions, Jacob shared how the idea for the Museum came about and evolved into our place on the Western Front today. The group discussed how the different questions of what, how, why and where each influenced the concept for the Museum, notably regarding its central themes of friendship, freedom and future.
Learning and Engagement Manager Lindsay Vanstavel joined Jacob at the Onnaing’s St Exupéry College to explore different letters and journal entries written by Kiwi soldiers during the First World War. After a presentation on New Zealand and the war effort generally, we turned to the writing of Roy Cragg, Tom McCreary and Jim Craig, each of whom wrote in significantly different manners.
Roy wrote his journal to be sent home to his family, and accordingly is written so as not to worry them. He recounts his days with stripped-back accuracy and limited personal expression.
Tom’s letters to his sweetheart Minney are comparatively full of colour and expression. He shares moments of wonder and amazement, though there remains a sense of censorship – maybe the rose-tinted perspective is more for himself than for Min.
Finally, Jim’s letter recounting him climbing of the famous ladder pulls the reader right into the action. The account secures Jim’s legacy as one of the few soldiers so scale the walls of Le Quesnoy, as he perhaps knows that others will claim to have made the daring ascent in the years to come.
The team at Te Arawhata is available to repeat these visits at other schools, whether in person or by video link, in French or in English. Jacob will be in New Zealand for February 2026 and would be delighted to visit your school to talk about the Museum.