Waikato Museum School War Poets

28 May - 7 June 2015

Waikato Museum invited Waikato and Coromandel schools to submit World War 1-inspired poetry written by students from years 3-8.

Waingaro School Year 7 student Isara Gatfield-Dudson won the competition with her poem For Us They Fell.

Isara read her poem at the official opening of For Us They Fell: Waikato WW1 centenary exhibition on Friday 24 April.

For Us They Fell

Out on the battlefield,

Facing the enemy,

For us they fought.

And we are remembering.

For them we live,

The peace they gave us,

The lives they lost,

The families who mourned,

There are far too many for us to forget.

They say ‘Lest we forget’,

And right they are.

The poppies we wear,

Are for their souls,

Are for the blood they shed,

Are for the lives they lost.

For us they fell.

Isara Gatfield-Dudson, Year 7, Waingaro School.

Winner of the Waikato Museum School War Poets Competition, April 2015

Waikato Museum’s exhibition For Us They Fell tells the Waikato WWI story through the experiences of Waikato people. The exhibition takes the visitor from Waikato as it was just before the war, through the major campaigns and events and to the present day. For Us They Fell is at Waikato Museum until 11 November 2018. 

Image: New Zealanders use a favourite backdrop in Egypt Collection of Richard Stowers