When we think of the Great War, the sound of guns, death and destruction are among the first things that come to mind.
The thought of what life was like for those back in New Zealand, is sometimes forgotten -- perhaps disregarded due to its distance from the frontline.
A new exhibit at Auckland Museum is hoping to turn that on its head. Home Front: Experiences of the First World War in New Zealand, allows visitors to delve into stories of the courage, conflict and resilience New Zealanders exuded during 1914 to 1918.
More than 200 items, including personal keepsakes, family portraits, postcards and letters are visible for the public to see, and curator of the exhibit Rose Young says a focus on the family living room throughout the war years and a look into a wave of increased patriotism and xenophobia are two critical parts of the showcase.
"In terms of the home front, for people of New Zealand, life is still centred in the family home. So the absences of men, they are absences from people's homes and also from communities. It's bringing the experience to a really personal level and opening it up," She says.
But more than that, Ms Young also says Home Front will teach people about how some parts of Auckland, New Zealand and some household items came to be known as they are today.
"Anzac Ave had its name changed during the war. The reason it had its name changed was because it used to be called Jerman St. Jerman St wasn't spelt with a 'G' it was spelt with a 'J' and it happened to be the lower part of Symonds St named after William Symonds."
"During that time German sausage also became luncheon, the British royal family changed their names and across the ditch, and the Australians also challenged the use of the name lager."
It's a painful reminder that Kiwis saw their country changing before their eyes -- courtesy of the atrocities happening on foreign soil.
Although those who remained on safe New Zealand shores may have been separated by thousands of kilometres from the firefight, some pieces of the exhibit show how Kiwis dealt with poverty, death and the upheaval of their previously comfortable lives back here.
"We have got stories of people going to school and learning other families couldn't afford to buy sugar. We have another family where the parents had worked during the war, a child was born and the father died of influenza while he was still in camp in Featherston.
"By the time that child was seven; he'd lived in 13 different locations."
Simon Gould, the exhibition developer, has worked all over the world on a number of projects. He says this exhibit is not flashy; it focuses on hundreds of small precious items telling a really complicated story.
"This show is not a show of large shiny things; this is a show of hundreds of little things which all work together to tell this really complicated landscape.
"I think one of the big things that we want our visitors thinking is to realise how non black and white a war really is. How people were put into impossible positions."
The exhibit opened yesterday with a formal gathering and it will run for 14 weeks.
Newshub.
