11 Oct 2016

The Cantabrians who stood up for peace and opposed conscription in the years before and during World 1 will be honoured in a special display during Beca Heritage Week.

The Voices Against War exhibition chronicles the stories of the men who went to prison because they refused to take up arms and the women who campaigned alongside them for peace.

It is based on research gathered by the Christchurch-based Disarmament and Security Centre in the courses of its educational peace project, Pacifist Women, Men and their Families in Canterbury.

Community historian Margaret Lovell-Smith, who was heavily involved in the project, said the pre-war peace movement began in response to the 1909 Defence Act, which introduced compulsory military training for boys as young as 12 (later raised to 14).

Conscientious objectors imprisoned at Paparua Prison during World War 1.

Conscientious objectors at Paparua Prison during World War 1. Robin Page is sitting on the ground (centre). Photo: All Rights Reserved Patricia Smith.

Christchurch was at the centre of resistance to compulsory military training with three organsiations – the Anti Militarist League, the National Peace Council and the Passive Resisters’ Union – forming in three years.

Margaret Lovell-Smith said initially those who refused to do their military training were thrown into prison, where they were incarcerated alongside criminals. Later the decision was made to detain them in military barracks at Fort Jervois on Ripapa Island.

Some of the conscientious objectors were imprisoned several times, both before and during the war. Many received sentences of two years hard labour which they served at Paparua Prison, on the outskirts of Christchurch.

Among the items on display in the Voices Against War exhibition is a scrapbook put together by the family of Robin Page, a 20-year-old student who was imprisoned at Paparua Prison during World War 1 for refusing to serve in the military. The scrapbook includes his accounts of daily life in prison.

The exact number of conscientious objectors imprisoned in New Zealand during World War 1 is not known but it is estimated to be about 300. At the war’s end there were 273 conscientious objectors in prisons throughout the country, 60 of them at Paparua.

The Voices Against War exhibition is on at the University of Canterbury library (which is open from 8am to 11pm Monday to Thursday, 8am to 9pm Friday, 10am to 5pm Saturday, and 10am to 9pm Sunday) from October 14 to November 10.

More about Beca Heritage Week.