David Grant Book Launch and Bob Kerr Exhibition

The David Grant Book Launch “Field Punishment No 1: Archibald Baxter, Mark Briggs and New Zealand's Anti-Militarist Tradition “, featuring paintings by Bob Kerr, is to be held at Milford Galleries Dunedin on Thursday 23 April from 5.30pm.

This is David Grant’s 11th book and his third book on the history of pacifists and conscientious objectors in NZ after On A Roll and A Question of Faith.

The book “Field Punishment No 1: Archibald Baxter, Mark Briggs and New Zealand's Anti-Militarist Tradition” describes the courage of the conscientious objectors sent overseas during World War One in a brutal attempt to force them to renounce their convictions and join the war effort. Despite torture and privation, Archie Baxter and Mark Briggs held out till the end, in one of the bravest displays of principle New Zealand has ever seen. They were this countries first successful dissenters, in defiance of a militaristic, neo-colonial government that feared non- conformity. David Grant is the foremost authority of conscientious objection in New Zealand. He re-appraises Briggs and Baxter's stand in the context of a New Zealand which has come to value its place as an independent, anti-militarist nation.

Event listed by Milford Galleries

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