Unlocking the Dux de Lux's Former Life as a World War II Enlistment Office
Hundreds of Cantabrians enlisted at the outset of the war. The NZR unveils the pivotal role the building known widely as the Dux de Lux played.
Standing outside the Dux de Lux there are no signs of former life the building lived in 1939 on the outbreak of Second World War. The building is surrounded by fencing on four sides and crowded with masonry as a makeshift storage site.
The Dux de Lux on 8 October 2010. Photo by George Kuek.
But this building was once a hive of activity at the outbreak of the war. And it is this hidden link to the great cataclysm that has interested the Original RSA’s President in setting up an office in the building that once housed the Dux de Lux and be a base for serving the country’s former servicemen and women. Even the Arts Centre Director, Philip Aldridge, believes the idea of the RSA setting itself up there is “a brilliant idea”.
This article uncovers this lost history and this unassuming former doctor’s cottage’s former life at the outset of war.
Dennis Mardle, standing in front of Dux de Lux, which once served as enlistment office for hundreds of Cantabrians on the outbreak of the Second World War.
War Breaks Out
On the 2nd of September 1939, The Evening Post reported “German Forces Attack Poland...Reports from Europe state that German troops began an offensive this morning with extreme violence on the whole Polish front.”
On the 3rd of September, British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain speaks over the radio to the British people at 11:15 in the morning:
“The British Ambassador in Berlin yesterday handed to Herr Hitler a final demand that unless an assurance that troops would be withdrawn from Poland was received by 11 o’clock a state would exist. No reply has been received. Consequently, this country is now at war with Germany.”
New Zealand followed suit near midnight and then backdates its declaration to line up with Britain’s.
On the 5th, an ailing Prime Minister, Michael Joseph Savage, tells the people “...Where she goes, we go; where she stands, we stand. We are only a small and a young nation, but we march with a union of hearts and souls to a common destiny.
Enlistment Begins at The Student Union
Enlistment in Christchurch began in earnest not at King Edward Barracks but in an unassuming establishment known to local university students.
On the 9th of September, the Saturday Press headline read:
SPECIAL MILITARY
FORCE TO BE FORMED
Service Within Or Beyond
New Zealand
ENLISTMENT ON VOLUNTARY
BASIS
First Draft of 6600 Men
9th of September 1939, the Saturday Press
On the outskirts of the city, workers scrambled to plow the soil, build living quarters, and seal roads at Burnham Camp.
Defence Minister, F. Jones, told media that enlistment will begin on Tuesday, the 12th, at 9 am. Single men who are not working in the essential industries were preferred.
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