Heritage Talk - Defence of Northland in World War II

Talk date: 31 July 2024.

Documents from Archives New Zealand highlight the extent to which New Zealand’s military was determined to defend Northland in the event of Japanese invasion during World War II

Jack Kemp and Dr Bill Guthrie, volunteer researchers with Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga, undertook a heritage inventory identifying Northland military places associated with World War II.

The once secret documents – including a series of detailed maps and papers relating to numerous military camps and installations – appear to have remained unopened since the end of the war when they were decommissioned. The presentation focused on some of the findings of this research.

Watch the talk on YouTube:

Defence of Northland in World War II by Jack Kemp and Dr Bill Guthrie

Photo above of HMNZS Killegray, T174, Isles class clearing sea mines in the Bay of Islands. Taken by Tudor Collins 1943.

About Jack Kemp and Dr Bill Guthrie

Jack Kemp is a researcher with a particular interest in World War II in the Pacific and he has had a long association with the South Pacific WWII Museum at Espiritu Santo Vanuatu.

Fellow researcher Dr Bill Guthrie was a Professor in the Humanities Faculty of the University of Macau, he has a PhD in medieval studies from the University of Colorado. His post-doctoral research was centred on the archives of the Bodleian Library at Oxford University

Jack and Bill are volunteers with Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga and together they uncovered the story of Northlands military camps.