Māori contingent soldiers leaving for camp

Members of the first Māori contingent leave Masterton for training in Auckland.

Māori were not offically eligible for the Main Body of the New Zealand forces that left the country in October 1914. A separate Māori contingent (the ‘Native Contingent’) was established; 500 men entered Avondale camp, Auckland, in October 1914 and left New Zealand in Feburary 1915.