Wartime cartoons on display in Army Museum

Ruapehu Bulletin, Volume 15, Issue 694, 8 July 1997, Page 12

Wartime cartoons on display in Army Museum

Aunique exhibition of cartoons is on display in Waiouru's Queen Elizabeth II Army Memo rial Museum from 17 June to 27 July 1997 and has already attracted over 50,000 visitors. As one of the many excellent displays at the Army Museum it is well worth making the time during your school or ski holiday to visit. New Zealander (Sir) David Low became internationally famous during the 1930's and 1940's for his wartime cartoons and is considered to be one of this century's greatest political cartoonists. "Low's contract with the Evening Standard in London allowed him complete freedom of viewpoint. His cartoons often contradicted the paper's editorials and enraged Nazi leaders who were unable to take press criticism calmly," states one of the display boards in the museum.

Low, who accepted a knighthood for his work in 1962, was repeatedly asked by his editors to tone down the penompaper attack, for fear his onslaughts would do irreparable damage to diplomatic efforts not to mention in the loss of his own life. From early August, this area of the museum will house an armoured vehicle display, including an M 1 1 3 armoured vehicle carrier, a white scout car used in World War II and a New Zealand pattern artillery observation post. Other displays currently featured at the Army Museum are the Charles Upham display and the set of Gallipoli poems in the art gallery. From August this corner will feature a series of national war art from the New Zealand archives which have not previously been displayed. Featuring official painters Peter Mclntyre, Russell Clark and Barnes Graham, the gallery will be dedicated to the themes

of medical treatment, Pacific War and World War I. As an adjunct to these features, the education section of the Army Museum currently offers 18 curriculum based programmes for pre-school to tertiary groups. Discounts on these programmes are being offered during the 1997 ski season. These special features of the Army Museum, along with its regular static displays which include the ever-popular desert war setting with the Bren gun carrier and the 'Taumata pounamu' (tears on greenstone), make the Army Museum a worthwhile attraction for visitors to the area.