News & Milestones:
March 2011
It was with great sadness the we received the news that Denis McLean died on 30 March, 2011 at his home in Khandallah, Wellington. Denis, as a trustee of this project, will be sorely missed for his enthusiasm, political and military acumen, and thoughtful contribution. But most importantly he will be missed as the warm and generous friend he became to us all. We extend our sincere condolences to his wife, Anne, and all the family.
December 2010 - February 2011
Photographing the cemeteries in Syria, Egypt, and Libya has been substantially completed.
Spain and Gibraltar should be completed by the end of February. Photography in Tunisia was commenced but had to be abandoned due to the recent unrest there. Thank you to the following organisations, we are very grateful for their support for this stage of the project:- First Sovereign Trust ($30,000), Four Winds Foundation ($10,000), and Mt Wellington Foundation ($10,000).
December 2010 -January 2011
In addition a New Zealand Lottery grant has been received to develop a web site where our archive of photographs will be able to be searched by name and/or cemetery. Work on the web site will commence shortly but will take some months to develop and be available online. This is an exciting development and will realize our dream of making these images freely available to everyone. We are very grateful for New Zealand Lotteries support from this aspect of our project.
October 2010
Research has always been part of the New Zealand War Graves Project and considerable time has been spent reconciling differences between the various listings of New Zealand casualties from the South African War to present day peace keeping operations. In this respect we have had considerable help from a number of individuals who have freely made available to us the results of their years of research. Although we can't individually acknowledge them here we would like to think they will be fully acknowledged when our archive goes online.
As part of our research we have discovered that a substantial number of New Zealanders (either by birth or residence) lost their lives serving with non-New Zealand forces; especially with the RAF, RAAF, Royal Navy, and Australian Army in WWI and WWII. Some of these areas have been well researched (in particular the air force casualties by Errol Martyn) and others have not been researched at all. The NZWGP has decided to include these casualties, where they can be identified, as part of our project. Work has commenced on identifying those casualties who died whilst serving with Australian forces and we are grateful for a grant from Sky Auckland Community Trust which has funded this research.
February 2010
We are delighted to announce that former Deputy Prime Minister, and Secretary-General of the Commonwealth, Sir Don McKinnon, has agreed to become patron of the New Zealand War Graves Trust and Project. The Trust has been blessed by the calibre of its patrons and we look forward to working with Sir Don toward our anticipated completion date in 2014.
February 2010
 Funding has been raised to complete the photography of Italy, Switzerland and Austria. Thank you to the following organisations for their support:- First Sovereign Trust ($25,000), Four Winds Foundation ($5000), North and South Trust ($5000), Eureka Trust ($5000), Pub Charity ($3000), White House Tavern Trust ($3000), and Mt Wellington Foundation ($2000).
January 2010
Judge Mick Brown has retired as patron due to an increasing number of other commitments but will remain available to the Trust in an advisory capacity. During his term as patron Judge Brown has done much to advance the cause of the Trust and we will all miss his warmth, humanity and insight.
January 2010
Photography of Thailand, Myanmar, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Bangladesh, and parts of India (Kolkata, Ranchi, Imphal, and Gauwhati) has been completed.
November, December 2009
Photography of Thailand, Myanmar, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Bangladesh, and parts of India (Kolkata, Ranchi, Imphal, and Gauwhati) commenced in November. It is anticipated that photography in these countries will be finished by Christmas this year.
(Thank you to the First Sovereign Trust who provided a grant for this work.)
Also a thank you to the Southern Trust who provided a grant to purchase additional camera equipment. The new equipment will permit, amongst other things, the automatic logging of the GPS coordinates of each grave and memorial as they are photographed.
April 2009
In Anzac week, the New Zealand War Graves Trust successfully held an exhibition of its photographs and stories from New Zealand, New Caledonia, Tonga, Samoa, Hong Kong, Korea, Japan, Australia and South Africa. The exhibition was officially opened by Judge Mick Brown, patron of the New Zealand War Graves Trust, and was held in Auckland at the Ranfurly Veterans Home, a new and welcome association for the War Graves Trust.
Guests at the opening included the Minister of Defence Dr Wayne Mapp, personnel representing the Royal New Zealand Navy commander Philomel and the Commanding Officer, 1 SAS Group, Papakura Camp and Les Fleming, Head of Internal Services, Auckland War Memorial Museum
Dr Mapp said he knows how families can be moved by the sight of a distant war grave of a loved one, as he once agreed to photograph war graves on Crete for New Zealand families, when they were not able to see the sites for themselves.
It is a nice coincidence that the New Zealand War Graves Trust was inspired by just such a photo from Suda Bay of the grave of Private W. G. Bain, N. Z. Infantry, June 2, 1941, aged 23..
November 2008
Don Milne and Denis McLean welcomed as new trustees. Profiles of the trustees and patron are available here.
October 2008
Photography of Tonga completed.
September 2008
Photography of Southern Africa and Australia completed. (Thank you again to the Caversham Foundation who provided a grant for this work.)
August 2008
Photography of Southern Africa and Australia commenced. (Thank you to the Caversham Foundation who provided a grant for this work.)
 June 2008
Photography of Japan, Korea, and Hong Kong completed. (Thank you to the Caversham Foundation who provided a grant for this work plus photographing graves in Southern Africa and Australia.)
November 2007
Bourail, New Caledonia and Vanuatu photographs complete.
November 2007
Letter of support received from Leader of National Party John Key.
October 2007
Photography of Western Samoa and Fiji completed.
October 2007
Photographing of graves in the Pacific begins. (Thank you to the Caversham Foundation who provided a grant for photographing graves in Samoa, Fiji, Bourail in New Caledonia and Vanuatu.)
October 2007
Photographing graves in North Island complete, bar a handful of hard-to-identify sites.
June 2007
Judge Mick Brown agrees to be Patron. Auckland lawyer Rebecca Macky joins as a trustee.
April 2007:
Photographing graves in the South Island complete. Photographing started in the North Island.
March 2007:
Photographing graves in New Zealand commenced started in the South Island. The photographer thanks all those people in the South Island who helped in locating graves and providing background information.
Donation received from the Wairoa District Council.
February 2007:
Major grant received from The Trusts Charitable Foundation to fund photographing graves in New Zealand. Donations also received from the Rodney District Council, South Taranaki District Council, Manukau City Council, Invercargill City Council, and Waimate District Council.
January 2007:
Donations received from the Clutha District Council.
December 2006:
Donations received from the Waikato District Council, Taupo District Council, Kaipara District Council, and Queenstown Lakes District Council.
November 2006:
Grants received from the Caversham Foundation and the Scottwood Trust.
October 2006:
Offer of surplus vehicle from New Zealand Defence Force.
September 2006:
Grants received from the South Auckland Charitable Trust and the Pelorus Trust.
September 2006:
Support for the project received from The Hon. Judith Tizard, Associate Minister for Culture and Heritage.
August 2006:
Agreement reached with Auckland War Memorial Museum to receive the archive
and host the website for integration with “Cenotaph”.
August 2006:
Support of The Hon. Peter Dunne, Leader of United Future Party.
July 2006:
Support from the Green Party, via Mr Keith Locke MP.
July 2006:
Support from Lt Gen Mataparae, Chief of Defence Force.
June 2006:
Support from Mr Rodney Hide MP, leader of the ACT Party
May 2006:
Grant of $5000 from the “Year of the Veteran” fund, Dept of Veterans Affairs.
March 2006:
Incorporation of New Zealand War Graves Trust.
February 2006:
Support from Dr Don Brash, Leader of the National Party.
January 2006:
Terry Snow & Simon Wei join project
December 2005:
Initial meetings with Mr Bruce Ralston, Auckland War Memorial Museum re integration with “Cenotaph”.
September 2005:
Support from Mr Don McKinnon, Secretary-General of the Commonwealth.
July 2005:
Obtained list of casualties from Ministry – research grave locations etc.
July 2005:
Support from the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.
May 2005:
Support of the AGM of The RNZRSA for the project.
Summer 2005:
Presentation to Auckland Regional Meeting of RSA – Support of Auckland Region – introduction to John Campbell, National President.
Summer 2005:
Meeting with RNZRSA National President John Campbell and Dr Stephen Clarke (historian RNZRSA).
Summer 2005:
Photographs for booklet from Hillsborough, Tauranga, Waikumete cemeteries, etc and design of first booklet.
Late 2004:
Meeting with The Hon. Judith Tizard, for advice on how to proceed project.
Late 2004:
Derrick Bunn joins project
Early 2004:
Beginnings of the project - playing with ideas.
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