Photo: Supplied/Auckland University Press
The death of the 28th Māori Battalion's Sir Robert "Bom" Gilllies was a reminder of the treatment that Māori serviceman received when they returned home from the war.
For families who remained at home, it had also been a period of transition and struggle, as they adjusted to life without their young men and worked to support the war effort.
Lachy Paterson and Angela Walhalla are the editors of Te Hau Kāinga and Raupanga, companion books that explore the transformation of Māori society on the home front.
Māori workers in a shearing shed, April 1940. (PHOTO: Supplied/Professor Angela Wanhalla, University of Otago)
Three Māori women tending forestry seedlings in the 1940s. (PHOTO: Supplied/Professor Angela Wanhalla, University of Otago)
Members of the Māori Battalion at Waitangi, February 1940. (PHOTO: Supplied/Professor Angela Wanhalla, University of Otago)
Pakipaki bible class group at Houngarea marae, 1941. Reverend Wī Te Hau Huata stands in front of the bargeboard support on the right of the photograph. (PHOTO: Supplied/Professor Angela Wanhalla, University of Otago)
Prime Minister Peter Fraser greets returned sick and wounded New Zealand soldiers who were transported home from the Middle East on the hospital ship Oranje in June 1942. (PHOTO: Supplied/Professor Angela Wanhalla, University of Otago)
Group of Māori tobacco workers. (PHOTO: Supplied/Professor Angela Wanhalla, University of Otago)
Children from a school near Kaikohe performing a waiata-ā-ringa at the visit of the mobile canteen, Te Rau Aroha. The canteen toured some North Island Native Schools to thank the children for their fund-raising efforts. (PHOTO: Supplied/Professor Angela Wanhalla, University of Otago)
Members of the kapahaka of Māori workers at the Helvetia State Vegetable Production Farm (at Patumāhoe) at the showgrounds at Pukekohe in 1945. Led by Maraea Te Kawa (Ngāti Porou) who, with her husband, were employed to care for the workers. (PHOTO: Supplied/Professor Angela Wanhalla, University of Otago)
Hon. Paraire Paikea talking on the recruitment of Māori soldiers at a hui of regional Māori recruiters, June 1942. (PHOTO: Supplied/Professor Angela Wanhalla, University of Otago)
