Major General Alfred William Robin (Commandant of the NZ Military Forces 10th Sept 1914 - 10th Dec 1919) in his letter dated 26th February 1916 (Post #21), describes the idea of evolving from unofficial Reinforcement badges to a universal Expeditionary Force badge.
To better understand the why, how, when and who of the early evolution of Reinforcement badges, one needs to understand how Trentham camp evolved, so I have taken the following extract from page 12 of the book “Historic Trentham,” written by Will Lawson and first published in 1917.
The Camp of Trentham
The old Camp's lights are burning still,
And brighter than before;
The rifle range below the hill,
Sends out the same old roar;
But you can't hear it, can you, Bill?
And you'll come back no more.
When war was declared by Great Britain against Germany, on August 4, 1914, there was no New Zealand Army, in the strict sense of the word. The outline of one existed, and the country had been fortunate in securing the services of some capable Imperial officers and n.c.o.'s for the training of her citizen army on a Territorial basis. The possibility of the Dominion ever finding it necessary to send an army overseas to fight bad been dreamed of by a few far-sighted military experts, but officially it had never been contemplated seriously. In spite of this, the military authorities faced, undismayed, the problem of mobilising and despatching seven thousand men without loss of time, and of training and sending reinforcements at regular intervals. And it is interesting to record that the first tents to be occupied by this army were pitched by civilians.
Within a week of the declaration of war, camps for mobilisation were established at Awapuni—where the people of Palmerston North provided fatigue parties to pitch the tents—Auckland, Christchurch, Dunedin, and Wellington. It was the beginning of a new phase of military work, a new military era in the Dominion. But these early camps were only temporary ones. Trentham, where the Dominion Rifle Association had its fine rifleranges, was in view all the time, and many of the Mounted Rifles of the Main Body completed their brief period of training at Trentham. Thus it has been identified with every draft which has gone overseas, except the Artillery, Mounted Rifles, Divisional Signallers, and A.S.C. drafts which mobilised after the new camp at Featherston had been built. Drafts of reinforcements for these branches of service are now trained wholly at Featherston.
The Main Body and the First Reinforcements sailed on October 14, 1914. On the same day, nearly three thousand recruits and huge quantities of camp equipment arrived at Trentham. The pitching of tents, under the direction of experienced men, was begun, while the issue of clothing and equipment was carried on well into the hours of darkness. The Camp
Quartermaster's stores and the supply store were in marquees. The only buildings were those connected with the rifle range, which included the present Expeditionary Force officers' mess, a portion of the present Headquarters, and a small hut. This hut afterwards became the post office. But the first post office at Trentham was in a marquee. As soon as the men entered camp they wanted to write home—it is a practice that is carried out to this day—and the New Zealand Post Office rose to the occasion then as it does to-day.
Day by day the new camp grew prodigiously. Until March, 1915, there were no new buildings put up. Then the building of the huts was put in hand, and the Trentham of to-day began to take shape. These huts were built by the Public Works Department according to plans prepared by the military authorities. But, for the time being, no formation of the ground into streets and pathways was begun, though the huts stood in rows, between which the present roads were eventually made. When the Camp was temporarily vacated in July, 1915, there were about fifty huts completed and in occupation.
All told, in tents and huts at that time there were eight thousand men in camp. Seven thousand of them were sent out in eight hours, with three days' rations per man. That took place on July 9. The 1st and 2nd Battalions of the New Zealand Rifle Brigade proceeded to Rangiotu; the 6th and 7th Mounted Rifles rode over the Rimutakas to Tauherenikau—an imposing cavalcade; the 7th Infantry went to Waikanae and the 6th Infantry remained at Trentham. None of these emergency camps were branches of Trentham. They were administered from Headquarters, Wellington, and of the three, Tauherenikau is the only one which has continued as a permanent camp, though Rangiotu was used until the 3rd and 4th Battalions of the New Zealand Rifle Brigade had completed their training and departed overseas.
Before the end of July, 1915, Trentham had resumed its busy appearance, but, for reasons of health, the number of men in camp was not allowed to exceed five thousand. On July 16 (a Friday) the Public Works officers went over the ground for the purpose of laying-off a draining and roading scheme. The whole area had to be surveyed, and this was sufficiently completed for large gangs of men to begin work on the Monday morning following. A steam plough and a large swamp plough were used to prepare the ground for the drains and water-channels, and numbers of horses and drays were employed, as well as nearly seven hundred men, for some weeks.
At the same time that the grading of the ground was undertaken, certain alterations in the ventilation of the existing huts was made, the new huts being built according to later plane. Every day new huts began to take shape, and as time went on the numbers of tents dwindled and the rows of huts grew. The tents were on the eastern parade-ground, where the 800-yards and 1,000-yards ranges were formerly; the huts were begun in the street behind Headquarters, and extended towards the railway. The removal of the tents and the upraising of the huts moved the Camp towards the railway. To-day it is right up to the boundary fence, and the only permanent tents in the Camp are those of the Engineers, which are built on specially drained and prepared ground.
The question of disposing of the surface-water and drainage from washing-places was one which engaged the attention of the engineers, and the plan which was decided upon and is now in operation provided for a large underground tank, into which the drains were led. This tank is capable of holding twenty-four hours' drainage, and at frequent intervals this accumulation is pumped under pressure to the Hutt River, nearly two miles away, where it discharges into a rapid current. The surface-water flows into a large deep drain, called in Camp parlance the Culebra Cut, which carries it away through Silverstream to the Hutt River at a point further down its stream. For the disposal of the solid waste matter of the Camp, large incinerators have been built, the pattern being one which was designed by the first Camp Quartermaster at Trentham.
It was after Trentham Camp had been in existence for twelve months that May Morn was made, to be an overflow camp in connection with the main camp. The site was at Mangaroa, a few miles north of Upper Hutt. Like the first camp at Trentham, May Morn was a canvas camp, the tents being of the Indian Service pattern. The only wooden buildings were the cook-houses, the Army Service Corps stores, the canteen, and shops and saloons. In every way May Morn was a model camp, especially as regards the sanitary arrangements. The 3rd and 4th Battalions of the New Zealand Rifle Brigade were the troops which first occupied May Morn. In December, 1915, they moved to Rangiotu, and the 11th Infantry Reinforcements then occupied the camp until it was closed in January, 1916.
Historic Trentham and other campaign histories and regimental histories covering New Zealand's involvement in the First World War can be viewed on the New Zealand Electronic Text Collection.
http://nzetc.victoria.ac.nz/tm/schol...orpus-WH1.html
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