Placard, 'Telegram' and 'Veterans for Peace'

item details

NamePlacard, 'Telegram' and 'Veterans for Peace'

ProductionUnknown; 1989-1992; New Zealand

Classificationplacards

Materialscardboard, ink

DimensionsOverall: 905mm (width), 637mm (height), 3mm (depth)

Registration NumberGH024578

Credit lineGift of the Estate of Ron and Carmen Smith, 2015

Overview

This placard was made for two different protests.

ANZAC Frigates

One side features a petition as a mock telegram to 'Members of the House of Representatives of New Zealand in Parliament'. In 1989, the Labour government reluctantly agreed to the purchase of two Anzac-class frigates, to be built in Australia with involvement of New Zealand industry. The project was part of an Australian initiative to boost naval power in the South Pacific, and caused huge controversy in New Zealand.

Veterans for Peace

On the other side of the placard is 'Veterans for Peace'. The original owner, Ron Smith, was a veteran of the Second World War. From 1986 he was a full-time peace activist. 'Veterans for Peace' was a message he would take to peace poppy stalls on Hiroshima Day in the early 1990s, or to protests such as when he picketed Japanese destroyers at the Overseas Terminal in Wellington in 1992.