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Kōrero: New Zealand identity

First World War recruiting poster

Image
First World War recruiting poster

This poster from 1915 represents the United Kingdom as a lion surrounded by the young cubs of the British Empire. From 1850 until at least the early 1960s most New Zealanders thought of New Zealand as a 'British' country and a loyal member of the British Empire. It was only in the last decades of the 20th century that ideas of New Zealand as having a South Pacific identity very different from the United Kingdom became stronger.

Te whakamahi i tēnei tūemi

Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa

Reference: GH016383

by Arthur Wardle

Permission of the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa must be obtained before any re-use of this image.

Ngā whakaahua me ngā rauemi katoa o tēnei kōrero

Me pēnei te tohu i te whārang

Fiona Barker, New Zealand identity – Understanding New Zealand national identity, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/mi/ephemera/34598/first-world-war-recruiting-poster (accessed 4 June 2026).

He kōrero nā Fiona Barker, i tāngia i te 17 April 2012.