Bulford kiwi remembered

• Anzac Day service times

It is now more than 90 years since 100,000 young men of the New Zealand Expeditionary Forces journeyed to distant lands to take part in the First World War. Included were many sons and grandsons of pioneer families from this district.

With all chance of personal interviews long gone, letters and diaries that survive give valuable first hand experience of this traumatic time.

Censorship dictated the content of letters, and headings such as “Somewhere in France”, “Behind the Lines” and “In the Trenches” were common. By contrast the post-mark ‘Sling Camp’ denotes the actual area of the Salisbury Plains occupied by New Zealand troops, and it was here that nearly 5000 soldiers found themselves when hostilities ended.

Long delays caused much unrest in the camp as they waited for transport home, and boredom and frustration led to a riot resulting in considerable damage to property.

The New Zealand government eventually had to pay many thousands of pounds in recompense. To ease the tension, Sgt. Major Percy Blenkarne suggested the soldiers could be employed carving a large chalk kiwi on the hill above the camp. Working from a sketch he had made of a specimen housed in the British Museum, the site was surveyed and the project begun.

The kiwi became a landmark, standing out in stark contrast to the green surroundings. It is 127 metres high and has a beak 46 metres long and took four months to complete. The letters N.Z. are 20 metres high and the body of the kiwi covers one-and-a-half acres.

Over the decades it has been maintained by various groups including the Kiwi Polish Company, Scouts and units of the British Army. In 2008, NZ Post issued a stamp depicting the kiwi as a commemoration of the occupation by New Zealand troops from 1916-1919.

Military memorabilia held by the Warkworth and Districts Museum will be displayed to mark Anzac Day April 25. On the other side of the world the Bulford kiwi will have it’s annual clean up.

Pictured: Raymond Taylor, a soldier from Dome Valley, wrote letters from Sling Camp