Mark Briggs, a Palmerston North unionist and auctioneer, was one of 14 conscientious objectors forcibly transported to the Western Front during the First World War. There he was dragged for a mile along duckboards (wooden battens covered with wire netting) and dumped into a shell hole full of water. He maintained his refusal to fight, and was later invalided back to New Zealand. In 1936 he was appointed to the Legislative Council, which was New Zealand's upper house. This 2005 painting, 'The Duckwalk', is by Wellington artist Bob Kerr.
Te whakamahi i tēnei tūemi
by Bob Kerr
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