About the Vietnam War Oral History Project

The vietnamwar.govt.nz website is the hub for memories of New Zealand and the Vietnam War. It was created as part of the Vietnam War Oral History Project run by Manatū Taonga Ministry for Culture and Heritage between 2008 and 2012.

The project, funded through the 2006 Memorandum of Understanding between the Crown and representatives of Vietnam veterans groups, included the collection of oral history interviews and the creation of a website or digital history archive.

Oral history interviews

The collection of oral histories of veterans and their families was identified as one of the key elements in the 2006 Memorandum of Understanding. It was considered vital to record the stories of these people in order to get a personal record of New Zealand's involvement in Vietnam.

Over 150 interviews were recorded between 2008 and 2012 by professional oral historians based around New Zealand. These interviews are archived in the Oral History and Sound collection at the Alexander Turnbull Library in Wellington. Use of the interviews is subject to access conditions agreed by the interviewees.

Website or digital history archive

The project also included the creation of a digital history archive where veterans, their families and the wider community could contribute their memories and memorabilia such as photos, letters, or diaries. The VietnamWar website was launched in mid-2008, and includes extracts from the oral history interviews.

From time to time, we sent out updates about the website through an online newsletter. See archived copies of VietnamWar.govt.nz newsletters below:

Home Fires Burning: New Zealand's Vietnam War

To mark the end of the Vietnam War Oral History Project and showcase some of the interviews and artefacts gathered over the project's four years, two exhibitions - Home Fires Burning: New Zealand's Vietnam War - were held in Auckland between April and June 2012. Read more about the exhibitions and watch a related film here.

Linking to this website

Here is a banner you can use if you'd like to link to our website. To save right-click on image.

The photograph on the banner was contributed to the website by Noel Bell. See a copy here.

Project team (2008–2012)

Claire Hall (project manager); Gareth Phipps (webmaster); Anaru Dalziel (technical oversight, audio and video); Jamie Mackay (technical oversight, web pages); Ian McGibbon (historical advice); Steve Watters (educational resources); Signify (web pages).

Contact details

Gareth Phipps
Phone: +64 4 462 8857 
Email: [email protected]

How to cite this page: ' About the Vietnam War Oral History Project ', URL: https://vietnamwar.govt.nz/about, (Ministry for Culture and Heritage), updated 14-Dec-2020