Māori and Pacific units

Page 3 – Rarotongan Company

Rarotongan ammunition handlers
Rarotongan ammunition handlers

Rarotongan and Niuean recruits were included in the NZEF’s Māori units, but they suffered from cold on the Western Front. Consequently a group of Rarotongan recruits were sent to Egypt in late 1916 to serve in the warmer climate of the Sinai–Palestine theatre. They were constituted as a separate unit, the Rarotongan Company, and entrusted with supply work.

The unit was attached to the 21st Army Corps. In February 1918 the remaining Pacific Island troops on the Western Front were shifted to the Middle East, where they joined the Rarotongan Company. The unit embarked for New Zealand in December 1918, arriving in Wellington in January 1919.

Read our main feature on Pacific Island units.

NameUnit attached toDatesFurther information
Rarotongan Detachment  Unit diaries at Australian War Memorial
How to cite this page

'Rarotongan Company', URL: https://nzhistory.govt.nz/war/maori-and-pacific-units/rarotongan-company, (Ministry for Culture and Heritage), updated 4-Apr-2019

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