T-shirt (WW1 Cook Islands soldiers)

This is a T-shirt commemorating the landing places of  troops of the Cook Islands Company of the New Zealand army in the First World War. 

On the left breast it features insignia modelled after the New Zealand Pioneer Battalion Badge and depicts the face of a Maori warrior wearing a solid necklace that joins the tips of two ferns. Crossed over in the centre is an axe and a pickaxe. "NZ" (an abbreviation of New Zealand) appears below the warrior’s necklace and below that is a banner inscribed with the words "COOK.IS.COY". beneath the insignia are the words 'Cook Islands Soldiers'.

On the back of the T- shirt is a list of place names where Cook Islands soldiers are documented landing/disembarking at:  'Auckland, Sydney, Suez, Gaza, Ismaila, Alexandria. Port Said, Deir-el-Belah, Jaffa, Sinai, Ypres, Armentieres, Marseilles, Somme, Calais, London, Arras, Rouen'

New Zealand recruited men from its colonies and the wider Pacific to fight in both world wars – a fact that has often gone unacknowledged nlate 20th and early 21st century histories of New Zealand.

In the First World War, men from the Cook Islands and Niue enlisted in the New Zealand (Maori) Pioneer Battalion. They were joined by recruits from Tahiti, Fiji, Samoa, Tonga, and the Gilbert and Ellice Islands (Kiribati and Tuvalu). The Cook Islands contribution to New Zealand’s forces included approximately 500 men over the course of the First World War. They were spread over five contingents, the first 47 volunteers made up the 1^st Cook Island Contingent.

After the New Zealand Native Contingent suffered great losses at Gallipoli in July 1915, it was disestablished and the remaining survivors redistributed into the 2^nd and 3^rd Maori Contingents. In February 1916, a new battalion combining them all was created. The newly formed New Zealand Pioneer Battalion combined several ethnicities, including the 45 men of the 1^st Cook Islands Contingent and 140 men from Niue.

The New Zealand (Maori) Pioneer Battalion 

The New Zealand (Maori) Pioneer Battalion was an infantry unit used predominantly as the labour force for the New Zealand Division. After their formation, the Pioneer Battalion left for Egypt where they received further training. The harsh weather conditions and exposure to foreign disease meant that many of the soldiers, particularly the Niueans, fell ill. Those who were well enough underwent infantry training, wagon loading, trench digging and rifle handling in the wait for their transfer to the Western Front in France.

In May 1916, the Pioneers joined other New Zealand soldiers deployed to the Western Front. In extremely cold conditions they were tasked with facilitating communication and digging trenches while under enemy artillery fire. At the Western Front, the Cook Island contingent were digging trenches when they took casualties at the Battle of Somme.

Of the 47 Cook Islanders sent from New Zealand, only 10 men fell to illness and injury in France. While the Niueans were withdrawn from service due to their ailments, the Cook Islanders continued in their contribution to the New Zealand Division. They displayed great prowess, speed and stamina during their time stationed in Europe, and especially noted to be vigilant sentries. By January 1918 the 1^st Contingent left to join the 2^nd Cook Island Contingent (111 men) in Palestine.

Design and motifs 

The axe and pickaxe that appears on the Cook Islands Company badge symbolizes the men’s primary work as a labour force. The inclusion of the Maori warrior’s face was to retain the Maori identity of the 3^rd Maori contingent, despite its mixed ethnic makeup. This is an exact replica of the collar badges made for the Cook Island Contingent, however there is no evidence to show these badges were actually worn by the contingent members during World War 1. Photographic evidence shows the Cook Island Home Guard wearing them during Second World War, and it appears they were later sold as surplus in the 1960s.

In 2015, Grace Hutton (Collections Manager Pacific Cultures) at Te Papa and member of the Wellington Cook Island Soldiers of World War One Committee organised for the creation and distribution of the T-shirts to be sold during the WW1 ANZAC commemorations in New Zealand. The T-shirts were created to give visibility and overdue acknowledgement to the contributions of Cook Island men to New Zealand’s armed forces during the First World War.

References

Aumua, Shaun (2014) Maori Unit Insignia 1915-18. The Volunteers. 40 (2):31-40

Māhina-Tuai, Kolokesa (2012) "FIA (Forgotten in Action): Pacific Islanders in the New Zealand Armed Forces" in Sean Mallon, Kolokesa Māhina-Tuai and Damon Salesa (eds) Tangata O Le Moana: New Zealand and the People of the Pacific. Wellington: Te Papa Press 139-159.