History seminar on Scots-born soldiers in NZ WW1 Forces

The dedication of the wall to the tunnellers at Carriere.

History seminar on Scots-born soldiers in NZ WW1 Forces.

WHS teacher Grant Collie will be talking about Scots-born soldiers in the New Zealand Tunnelling Company in WW1, this Sunday, May 7 as part of the series of history seminars organised by Massey University. They are held at the Alexander Heritage and Research Library at 2pm. 

The topic is both personal and professional for Grant. He is a Scottish Migrant to New Zealand and has a family background in coal mining. He is also a history teacher at Whanganui High School and is currently doing a Masters in History on the topic of these soldiers.

He says “I was researching the New Zealand Expeditionary Force for an NCEA level I, World War I topic, when I came across family historian Christine Clements detailed database of around 1600 Scottish-born members of the NZEF.”

He decided to focus on the 62 members of the NZ Tunnelling Company who were identified as Scots-born and were, mainly, mine workers. “This allowed me to treat this as more of a Social, rather than Military History topic. I will be discussing my interim findings in the presentation on Sunday.”

His key questions for his thesis are:
1. Who were the Scots-born tunnellers in the NZETC?
2. What were their reasons for coming to New Zealand?
3. Why did they enlist?
4. What lasting impact did the War have on them?

Grant has just returned from a study trip to Scotland and France during which he and daughter Fiona were invited to be part of the official commemorations of the Centenary of the Battle of Arras with the relatives of both the NZ Tunnelling Company and the Maori Pioneer Battalion. 

He will be providing highlights of this experience, “featuring the visit to Carriere Wellington, the memorial museum to the NZ Tunnellers who expanded the chalk cave system under Arras as a strategic initiative to allow 20,000 allied troops to emerge in the German Trenches at the start of the battle, much to the surprise of the Germans!”