Jacob Siermans giving an update on Le Quesnoy’s Te Arawhata New Zealand Liberation Museum in Cambridge
Over 11,000 visitors have been through the Te Arawhata New Zealand Liberation Museum in Le Quesnoy since it opened in October 2023.
Jacob Siermans, left, with Cambridge resident Richard Swarbrick holding his grandfathers’ WWI helmet. Richard’s grandfather narrowly escaped death when shrapnel from a German shell penetrated the outer part of his helmet during the Le Quesnoy liberation. Photo: Viv Posselt
Pleasing as that is, efforts are underway to grow those numbers. Helping lead the charge is Jacob Siermans, who has been the museum’s marketing and operations manager for the past 18 months.
The former Auckland lawyer, who now lives in Le Quesnoy having netted what he considers his dream job, spoke to the Cambridge Le Quesnoy Friendship Group last week on day two of a three-week New Zealand speaking tour taking in Cambridge as Le Quesnoy’s sister city, the army museum at Waiouru, Wellington, Christchurch and six schools. He also spoke at Cambridge High School.
He said that of those 11,000 visitors, 400 involved school visits, and about 20 were New Zealand schools.
“We are averaging around 4500 visitors a year. It’s a nice stat, but we have ambitions to go bigger than that.”
Siermans, who is of Dutch heritage and speaks fluent French, said 26.6 per cent of visitor numbers were Kiwis, about two-thirds were French and the rest from other countries. Efforts are ongoing to promote the museum to French schools.
Graeme Colquhoun, who lives next door to Hobbiton, left, and Cambridge’s Richard Swarbrick shared stories of their grandfathers who were both involved in the liberation of Le Quesnoy. Photo: Viv Posselt
Te Arawhata differs from many other war-related museums in that it offers an interactive visitor experience to tell the story of Le Quesnoy’s liberation from the Germans on November 4, 1918.
Le Quesnoy is one of a string of historically walled fortress towns in the northeast of France. When New Zealand troops liberated it in the dying days of World War One, they set off a smoke screen to deter German troops, scaled the massive walls using a ladder (hence the name Te Arawhata, which is Māori for ladder or bridge) and liberated the town and its 1600 citizens with no civilian fatalities – a rarity when civilian casualties were high as towns were liberated from the Germans. First over the ladder was Cambridge’s Lt Leslie Averill.
The Te Arawhata New Zealand Liberation Museum in Le Quesnoy.
Almost 200 New Zealanders died in the operation and the connection between Le Quesnoy and New Zealand has strengthened with each passing year.
Siermans promotes interaction with the Le Quesnoy community. He does visitor tours of the town and its ramparts, organises dramatisations and re-enactments of the liberation story, gives talks and holds school-holiday programmes that introduce locals to Māori culture and language, and takes Kiwi visitors under his wing.
One memorable visit, one he describes as ‘particularly touching and rewarding’, was of Kirsty Garner. The senior from Lawrence in Central Otago discovered her uncle Walter McIntyre’s wartime letters and was determined to visit his grave at Fontaine-au-Bois just outside Le Quesnoy. Manawatu-born Walter had enlisted a month after his 20th birthday in November 1916, and died in the Le Quesnoy action.
Kirsty, who doesn’t use cellphones or computers, made the long journey to pay her respects, and Jacob Siermans was there to help her.
Siermans said he was delighted with his Cambridge audience.
“The talks I give are to people who typically don’t know much about Le Quesnoy,” he said, describing the audience as testament to the sister-city relationship. “Even better, you all know how to pronounce Le Quesnoy. Most people I meet call it Le Quez..noy.”
Jacob Siermans giving an update on Le Quesnoy’s Te Arawhata New Zealand Liberation Museum in Cambridge last week. Photo: Viv Posselt
