Further information - Peace celebrations in 1919

This web feature was written by Imelda Bargas and produced by the NZHistory.net.nz team.

The peace celebrations* that followed the First World War are not well covered in secondary source material. There is one article on the internet that discusses peace celebrations in England, and one journal article that discusses peace celebrations in Ireland.

• Peace Day (Aftermathww1.com)
• Chapter 3, ‘Parading memory: peace day celebrations’ in Nuala Johnson, Ireland, the great war, and the geography of remembrance, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2003.

Many photographs relating to the peace celebrations have previously been wrongly identified as dating from the November 1918 Armistice Day celebrations.

Most of the information in this feature came from contemporary New Zealand, Australian and British newspapers, and files at Archives New Zealand and Wellington City Archives. Further records may exist at other local authorities.

* The celebrations following the Armistice are often referred to as peace celebrations. The term was also used for celebrations following the South African War and the Second World War. As in many countries the peace celebrations took place only on one day, they are often referred to as peace day or victory day.