Twin Towns: Le Quesnoy, France and Cambridge
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Twin towns: A Celebration of Freedom and Friendship
Le Quesnoy (pronounced ler ken-wah) and Cambridge in New Zealand officially became twinned towns in 2000, although their connection began during World War I. While none of the ladder-climbing soldiers at the Liberation of Le Quesnoy were from Cambridge, the town has a personal link through letters written by local Reverend Clive Mortimer-Jones.
“My Dear Friends,
I must tell you something about the … best and greatest of victories which
the “Digger” Division of New Zealand ever took part.”‘
C Mortimer Jones, Beauvois-en-Cambrésis, France
Monday, Nov 25, 1918
At the unveiling ceremony of the Le Quesnoy sculpture in the Domain, Mayor Jim Mylchreest said that the Cambridge-Le Quesnoy relations were forged by a battle to protect democratic ideals held dear by both countries.
Today the Cambridge-Le Quesnoy Friendship Association keeps the bond strong between the two towns.
Was the first man over the ladder at Le Quesnoy from Cambridge?
The capture of Le Quesnoy in France by the New Zealand Rifle Brigade was carried out on 4 November 1918. Leslie Averill was the first to enter the town of Le Quesnoy from a scaling ladder BUT it’s a mistake to say that Averill was born in Cambridge.
He was actually born in the vicarage of St Michael and All Angels, Christchurch on 25 March 1897, the son of Alfred Walter Averill and his wife, Mary. His father Alfred was later archbishop and primate of the Anglican church in New Zealand and was present at the unveiling of the Memorial Window in Cambridge’s St Andrew’s Church in 1923.
Read Leslie Averill’s first hand account of the liberation of Le Quesnoy here.
The mistaken belief that Leslie Averill was from Cambridge may have arisen because Averill’s brother Walter was second clergyman to Rev Clive Mortimer Jones for a brief period from 1923 – almost five years after the capture of Le Quesnoy. By 1926, Walter had moved to Turua (ref).
We can find no evidence that Leslie Averill, the first to reach Le Quesnoy on that fateful day, has ever visited Cambridge.
The Le Quesnoy Memorial
The striking stainless steel Le Quesnoy sculpture on the Cambridge Domain was unveiled in November 2019. It was designed by renowned New Zealand artist Fred Graham (Ngāti Koroki Kahukura).
In his initial drawings for the sculpture, Fred Graham described the connections between the shape and the Eiffel Tower in France. The gleaming silver fern along its edge represents the ladder used to scale the wall. Each leaf represents a soldier who died during the Liberation.
All successful sculptures have to be tall, you have to notice them … I hope this sculpture will become a landmark for this area
FRED GRAHAM, 2017
Models and drawings created by Fred Graham while designing the sculpture are in the museum’s collection