Resources

Jump to: Researching military records | Websites | Films | Books

School Resources

Click here to access resources for teachers and students, including background information, fact sheets and activities, and an overview of the 28th Māori Battalion and the New Zealand curriculum. 

Researching military records

Medals

All enquiries about medals should be sent to:

Staff Office Medals
Personnel Archive Trentham Camp
Private Bag 905
Wellington
ph 04 527 5270

The New Zealand Defence Force has developed a series of links, Medals awarded to New Zealand military personnel, that includes details about applying for medals or replacement.

Personnel files

Find information on how to order a soldier's full military record on the NZ Defence Force website.

Websites

• NZHistory.net.nz – New Zealand's leading history website. Includes an overview of New Zealand and the Second World War, features on the Battle for Crete, the North African campaign and Italian campaign, and features on Maori and the First World War, Maori and the Second World War and the Maori War Effort Organisation.

• Dictionary of New Zealand Biography = Ngā Tāngata Taumata Rau – features biographies of over 3000 New Zealanders, including many people associated with the 28th Māori Battalion, such as Arapeta Awatere, Frederick Baker, Charles Bennett, James Hēnare, Wī Hūata, K.A. Keiha, Eruera Love, Haane Manahi, Te Moananui-a-Kiwa Ngārimu, Āpirana Ngata, Hanara Reedy, Rangi Royal and Charlie Shelford. These biographies are also available in te reo Māori.

• The New Zealand Electronic Text Centre (NZETC) is a free online archive of NZ and Pacific full-text books, journals and manuscripts. It has digitised the 50 volumes of the Official History of New Zealand in the Second World War, 1939-1945, including the official history of the 28 Maori Battalion, written by J.F. Cody and originally published in 1956.

• The Cenotaph – developed by the Auckland Museum = Tamaki Paenga Hira, this database contains records and some photos for over 115,000 New Zealanders who served in overseas wars, from South Africa in 1899, through the First and Second World Wars to Korea, Malaya and Vietnam in the 1950s to 1970s, and even recent peacekeeping deployments.

• National Library of New Zealand = Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa – includes the Alexander Turnbull Library, which holds extensive photographic, oral history and other collections relating to the Māori Battalion.

• Archives New Zealand = Te Whare Tohu Tuhituhinga o Aotearoa – the official guardian of New Zealand’s public archives.

• Radio New Zealand Sound Archives = Ngā Taonga Kōrero – holders of NZ's broadcast radio records.

• National Army Museum = Te Mata Toa – New Zealand army memorial museum at Waiouru, and home of the restored Māori Battalion canteen truck, Te Rau Aroha.

• Rotorua Museum of Art and History = Te Whare Taonga o Te Arawa – includes an exhibition on the history of B Company, 28th Māori Battalion.

• Tairawhiti Museum = Te Whare Taonga o te Tairawhiti – Gisborne's museum and art gallery, which includes an exhibition on the history of C Company, 28th Māori Battalion.

• Anzac Day collection (NZOnScreen) – a fantastic collection of some of the best documentaries and dramas about New Zealanders at war.

• The Commonwealth War Graves Commission – features a searchable online register of war graves including New Zealand personnel. See also the War Graves Photographic Project website.

Films

• Maori Battalion - March to Victory (1990) – produced, directed and written by Tainui Stephens, and narrated by actor George Henare, this television documentary tells the stories of five men who served with the Māori Battalion during the Second World War.

• Tama Tū (2004) – an award-winning short film written and directed by Taika Waititi and produced by Whenua Films. Six Māori Battalion soldiers camped in Italian ruins wait for night to fall. In the silence the bros-in-arms distract themselves with jokes.

Books

• Awatere, Arapeta, Awatere: A Soldier's Story, edited by Hinemoa Ruataupare Awatere, Huia, Wellington, 2003

• J.F. Cody, 28 (Maori) Battalion, War History Branch, Department of Internal Affairs, Wellington, 1956 (read this work on the NZETC website)

• Wira Gardiner, Te Mura o te Ahi: The Story of the Maori Battalion, Reed, Auckland, 1992

• Patricia Grace, Ned & Katina: A True Love Story, Penguin, Auckland, 2009 (the story of Māori Battalion soldier Ned Nathan, who met and later married a young Cretan woman, Katina)

• Patricia Grace, Tu, Penguin, Auckland, 2004 (an historical novel inspired by Grace's father's own diary outlining his experiences with the Māori Battalion)

• Ian McGibbon (ed.), The Oxford Companion to New Zealand Military History, Oxford University Press, Auckland, 2000

• Apirana Ngata, The Price of Citizenship: Ngarimu, VC, Whitcombe & Tombs, Wellington, 1943

• Christopher Pugsley, Te Hokowhitu a Tu: The Maori Pioneer Battalion in the First World War, Reed, Auckland, 1995

• Monty Soutar, Nga Tama Toa - The Price of Citizenship: C Company 28 (Maori) Battalion 1939-1945, David Bateman, Auckland, 2008

• C.K. Stead, Talking About O'Dwyer, Penguin, Auckland, 1999 (an historical novel based in part on a fictional Pākehā officer serving with the Māori Battalion in Crete)