Programme, 'Ceremony to Honour the Gallantry of Corporal Bill Henry Apiata VC'

item details

NameProgramme, 'Ceremony to Honour the Gallantry of Corporal Bill Henry Apiata VC'

ProductionNew Zealand Government; commissioner; 2007; New Zealand

Classificationprogrammes

Materialspaper, ink, metal

Techniquesprinting

DimensionsOverall: 210mm (width), 296mm (height), 4mm (depth)

Registration NumberGH023180

Credit lineGift of Puawai Cairns, 2012

Overview

This programme is significant because it commemorates the ceremony for Corporal Willie Apiata VC, New Zealand Special Air Service (NZSAS), held at Te Kaha Marae, Te Kaha, in August 2007, after he was awarded the Victoria Cross on 2 July 2007.

The programme is very detailed and features speeches from the Prime Minister the Rt Hon Helen Clark, Minister of Māori Affairs the Hon Parekura Horomia, and Governor-General the Hon Anand Satyanand. Also included is information on Te Kaha Marae, the Citation itself, the Victoria Cross, Willie Apiata and his whakapapa, other Māori VC recipients, and a message from Willie.

Corporal Apiata's family settled in Te Kaha in the late 1960s, and Te Kaha Marae became his home marae. The ceremony was a significant event, and was recorded in the television documentary, 'The Reluctant Hero'.

Corporal Apiata was awarded the Victoria Cross for New Zealand for displaying the highest order of personal courage under fire during a period of duty in Afghanistan in 2004. His VC is the fourteenth awarded since the Second World War, and the first to be awarded to a member of the SAS anywhere in the Commonwealth. It is the first VC to be awarded to a New Zealander since WWII, and the first Victoria Cross for New Zealand to be awarded.