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Family scrapbooks and marae walls are being scoured for photos of Maori who served in World War One.
Monty Soutar from the Ministry for Culture and Heritage is working on a definitive history of Maori and Pacific servicemen as part of a new series of official histories of the 1914 to 1918 conflict.
He wants to include photographs of as many soldiers as possible, not just from the Pioneer Battalion and its predecessors but from all units which may have had some Maori or Pacific soldiers.
Dr Soutar says he's already got pictures of about 100 of the 2500 who served, and there should be a lot more out there.
"Fortunately a lot of these men before they went to war, or when they were overseas, went into studios and got their photographs taken so they are really clear images being 100 years old and most families kept these and they are hanging on their walls or we have found them on marae. We are fortunate the quality of images back then were well done and well preserved," he says.
Images and the information about them can be uploaded onto the 28 Maori Battalion website or emailed to Dr Soutar at [email protected]
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