.LynEve

gallery

Continuing . . from the Te Papa exhibition :Gallipoli:The Scale Of Our War

Sergeant Cecil Malthus (1890-1976), Canterbury Infantry Regiment was born in Timaru and graduated with an MA in French and English from Canterbury University in 1912. He was hospitalised three times with illnesses caused by the dire conditions on the Gallipoli campaign.. he was redeployed to France with the New Zealand Division and was wounded on the Somme in September 1916, losing toes on his right foot from an exploding bomb. Invalided home, he married his long-time sweetheart Hazel Watters in 1918, and together they raised five children. He later became Professor of Modern Languages at Canterbury University.
He is trudging through mud in this depiction. The poppies are made available for visitors to write a note on or simply place with the others. They hide the mud but serve as a reminder of the lives lost. This is the last of the eight figures featured in the exhibition