An Anzac Journey
This pictorial parade focuses on the fictitious Pax family, who come from the imaginary town of Te Kura in heartland New Zealand. Their lives were torn apart by events in Gallipoli in 1915. Three generations of the family will visit Anzac Cove in 2010.
The Pax Family
The Pax family lost two of their sons in World War One - Michael Pax at Gallipoli and Zach Pax at Passchendaele. This devastated the family and also the tiny settlement of Te Kura (population 250), a town based on saw milling and dairy farming.
The current living members of the Pax family.
(Click to see more information)
Commemorations at Gallipoli
"Their valiant lives laid down for our lives upward reaching"
- Christchurch Boys High School Song Altiora Peto
As a mark of respect for our forefathers, many New Zealanders young and old make the pilgrimage to Gallipoli as a mark of gratitude to our ancestors.
Maggie Pax
Maggie Pax was a new woman of the twentieth century. She was a product of New Zealand's pioneering past, which saw the nation grant New Zealand women the vote, some 25 years before their British sisters. The Great War showed that she was an independent young woman. Broken hearted by the death of her brother Michael at Gallipoli, the 15 year old Maggie had huge responsibilities helping milk the family dairy herd of 86 cows. She tried to stop her brother Zach volunteering to serve on the Western Front.
When Zach was killed at Passchendaele in 1917, she had to lift her father who lost the will to live following the death of his two sons. As well as helping her mother with numerous domestic tasks in feeding the land army (women who helped keep the rural areas running) she had additional responsibilities in managing the family sawmill, which contributed to the war effort. In 1918 she married Ivor Jones, a Welsh merchant navy man, who jumped ship in New Zealand. Ivor became a vital member of the family business that played a critical role in the New Zealand economy in post World War One New Zealand.
Zach Pax
Zach Pax, inspired by his older brother Michael's service in the Armed Forces, decided to lie about his age in order to try and join the forces before he was legally allowed to do so. Although he was found out, Zach was deployed shortly after his older brother's death, and served on the Western Front.
Read Michael's diary from Chunuk Bair, which Zach received shortly before being deployed.
Zach, like his brother, died in the Great War. However, Zach died in the later Battle of Passchendaele, where he was among the estimated 300,000 Allied casualties.
Michael Pax
Michael took part in the assault on Chunuk Bair which was a vital strategic position for the campaign. Michael was one on the 1,700 casualties. His death was felt deeply by the Pax family and the whole Te Kura community, however he was a young man whose sacrifice helped forge how the courageous nation of New Zealand would be recognised by the world in the future.
