Kiwi Medals

These are WW1 era cap and collar badges for the 11th North Auckland Mounted Rifles. These are either right hand collar badges or cap badges as they were made facing the same way. The left hand collar badge faces the other direction. This makes these ones twice as common as the left hand one if you get my drift.

I am drawn to these badges primarily because my maternal grandfather served in this regiment.

The 11th (North Auckland) Mounted Rifles was formed on 17 March 1911. They were mobilised during World War I as a squadron of the Auckland Mounted Rifle Regiment. They served in the Middle Eastern theatre of World War I and first saw action during the Battle of Gallipoli. As a part of the larger New Zealand Mounted Rifles Brigade (of the Anzac Mounted Division) they went on to serve in the Sinai and Palestine Campaign

This is the cap badge for the New Zealand Women’s Land Service.

The Women’s Land Service was formed to supply labour to keep New Zealand agriculture going during the War. From 1940, city girls from the age of seventeen were sent to assist on sheep, cattle, dairy, orchard and poultry properties. Many had the experience of arriving at a remote destination late at night and starting work the next morning as a farm-hand, when they had never been close-up to a sheep. They learned to ride horses, train and whistle up dogs, muster and shear sheep, plough and harvest crops, and to master all the myriad tasks of rural industries, often without electricity.

These three shoulder titles are from the New Zealand Mounted Rifles. They probably date from WW1.

The New Zealand Mounted Rifles Brigade, consisting usually of four units of mounted infantry, fought in World War I and World War II. Initially a milita, under the instruction of Lieutenant Colonel Joseph Henry Banks they formed the core of the New Zealand Army following successful service in the Boer Wars. During World War I, it was a part of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC) during the Gallipoli Campaign serving in the New Zealand and Australian Division.

The brigade also served in the Anzac Mounted Division during the Sinai and Palestine Campaign. Throughout this campaign the New Zealand Mounted Rifle Brigade consisted of the Auckland Mounted Rifle, the Canterbury Mounted Rifle and the Wellington Mounted Rifle Regiments. The Otago Mounted Rifle Regiment was sent to Europe and served on the Western Front before the Sinai and Palestine Campaign began. After World War I demobilisation the brigade ceased to exist in 1944 when individual units were absorbed into other regiments.

This is a World War 1 era cap  & collar badge pair for the 15th Northland Regiment.

This is a full set of cap and collar badges for the New Zealand 1st Canterbury Regiment. These badges date from WW1. This regiment fought first in Palestine & Egypt, moved to Gallipoli in 1915 and then the Somme in 1916. It fought on in France until 1918.