Skip to main content

Story: Australians

Australian servicemen at Kaitake, around 1864

Image
Australian servicemen at Kaitake, around 1864

New Zealand was, in the 1860s, the first overseas theatre of war in which Australian soldiers fought. Many accepted the offer of free land once their term of service was over. In 1864 members of a militia recruited in Australia were manning the redoubt at Kaitake, near New Plymouth.

Using this item

Alexander Turnbull Library, S. P. T. Nicholl Collection

Reference: 1/2-46640-F

22661397

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

John Wilson, Australians – Sheep farmers, gold miners, soldiers, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/en/photograph/611/australian-servicemen-at-kaitake-around-1864 (accessed 24 June 2026).

Story by John Wilson, published 4 March 2009, updated 1 July 2024.