Skip to main content

Story: Political values

A New Zealand soldier's ingenuity

Video file

This short film from 1944 features a New Zealand solider in the Pacific during the Second World War who has invented his own washing machine and wringer. The film expresses a nationalistic pride in Kiwi ingenuity, which is seen as being a distinctive value of the country's people.

Using this item

Archives New Zealand - Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga

Reference: Weekly Review 142. National Film Unit, 1944

Permission of Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga must be obtained before any re-use of this material.

All images & media in this story

How to cite this page

Stephen Levine, Political values – Political values and the ‘Kiwi’ way of life, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/en/video/36618/a-new-zealand-soldiers-ingenuity (accessed 4 June 2026).

Story by Stephen Levine, published 11 June 2012.