Story: The New Zealanders

Pioneer Battalion, 1918

Pioneer Battalion, 1918

Some Māori were keen to be accepted as part of the New Zealand nation, and hoped that participation in the First World War would confirm their membership of the British Empire and the nation. A Māori contingent went to Gallipoli and was subsequently re-formed as the Pioneer Battalion to serve on the western front, where 336 men were killed. Here the battalion performs a haka before the visiting prime minister, William Massey (right), and his deputy Sir Joseph Ward.

Using this item

Alexander Turnbull Library, Royal New Zealand Returned and Services' Association Collection
Reference: 1/2-013282-G
Photograph by Henry Armytage Sanders

Permission of the Alexander Turnbull Library, National Library of New Zealand, Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa, must be obtained before any re-use of this image.

All images & media in this story

How to cite this page:

Jock Phillips, 'The New Zealanders - Maorilanders', Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, http://www.TeAra.govt.nz/en/photograph/1938/pioneer-battalion-1918 (accessed 29 March 2024)

Story by Jock Phillips, published 8 Feb 2005, updated 1 May 2015