TOUR OF GEYSERS AND WHAKAREWAREWA
Two American officers accompanied by two members of the NZ Women's Auxiliary Air Force (WAAF) visit Whakarewarewa and are greeted by Guide Rangītiria Dennan. They walk round the Māori village looking at the hot springs then lighting their cigarettes from a smoking vent. They observe the geysers and see the mud pools up close, and then watch how clothing gets washed by hand at a warm spring. Guide Rangītiria shows them the meeting house and points out the carvings.
AUCKLAND; ROTORUA
The footage on this reel is silent and has been spliced together from various film reels out of chronological order.
[Scene 43] Silverstream Hospital in Upper Hutt was taken over by the US Marines from 1942-44. Many American nurses were shipped in to care for the American war casualties.
[Scene 92] A wide shot looking across Auckland towards One Tree Hill, and across suburbia towards Pukekohe. Looking across to Rangitoto Island from a vantage point.
[Scene 67] Marines high diving and general cavorting at the famous Rotorua Blue Baths.
[Scene 75C] Throngs of uniformed students walking and cycling across the quad in Christ’s College, Christchurch.
[Scene 75D] Students entering the school hall and [75D] walking with a Marine through the school entrance.
[Scene 78] Static shot of an older, rural church with a tower.
[Scene 49] Close-ups of horse-drawn plough.
[Scene 92G] An elderly man in a bowler hat blowing a whistle abruptly cuts to a tram travelling along Queen Street, Auckland with the John Court Ltd department store to the right of frame. Looking from Queen Street up Victoria Street many people are crossing this busy intersection including American soldiers. Sharland Chemist can be prominently seen and Begg’s Musical Electrical Centre and McKenzies department store can be seen from another angle looking along Queen Street.
[Scene 65G] At Whakarewarewa Marae, Marines flip coins into the warm springs and Māori tamariki dive or jump in after them.
[Scene 66] A geyser is billowing a massive column of steam.
[Scene 76A] In busy Cathedral Square, Christchurch, an old man is sweeping debris off the tram tracks. Cyclists and pedestrians on the move in all directions.
[Scene 64D] Close-ups of a putting shot.
[Scene 65B] Wahine bathing in hot spring, mother with baby.
MĀORI PERFORMANCES; ROTORUA HOTSPRINGS
[Scene 203] US Marines are boarding a warship moored in the Wellington docks.
[Scene 65] In Whakarewarewa Guide Rangitīaria Dennan leads four Marines to a hot spring where tamariki and wahine are bathing.
[Scene 65E] Two wahine are washing their tamariki.
[Scene 203] Fully kitted out Marines marching along the Wellington docks and walking up a gang plank to board a warship.
[Scene 66B] Guide Rangitīaria Dennan pulls up a woven basket from a hot spring containing kumaras and potatoes and offers them to some Marines to eat.
[Scene 78B] A country church with a steeple surrounded by a garden of trees and a small cemetery. Brief footage of kapa haka being performed on a specially constructed outdoor stage in Gisborne.
[Scene 51] An American soldier carries some hay to a stable and proceeds to feed a horse. A mixed kapa haka group entertain the massive crowd of US Marines and people of Gisborne, gathered in a stadium in the countryside.
[Scene 82 & 82B] Marines walk down from a chalet and grab ski gear. Scenic shots of snow-covered mountains and a glacier(?).
CIVILIANS AND MARINES; GEYSERS AND MUDPOOLS
[Scene 76C] Christchurch in Wintertime, many people can be seen cycling alongside the Avon River down Cambridge Terrace and then across the Bridge of Remembrance and through the Triumphal Arch. [Scene 66A] Guide Rangitīaria Dennan leads four Marines up to a billowing steam vent. [Scene 182] ‘Hasty Tasty’ American coffee bar attracts groups of US soldiers walking along the street.
First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt in the Government House gardens talking to a journalist. A brief moment at the microphone for the press conference before this scene cuts to a candid moment just prior to a group portrait with the Governor-General, Sir Cyril Newall and distinguished guests; (see NTSV F318877).
[Scene 63A] Guide Rangitīaria Dennan leads four US marines through the entrance gate of Whakarewarewa Pā, Roturua. Guide Rangi is talking to the group and pointing to the geyser. Boiling mud pools are seen up close. [Scene 65C] Wahine and tamariki bathing in a hot spring. Marines toss coins in for the children.
[Scene 203] The mooring ropes are pulled in and the war ship sails out of the Wellington harbour.
[Scene 183] “WHILE-YOU-WAIT” PRESSING SERVICE! The window sign draws in marines walking along Lambton Quay. Nearby a milk bar advertising milk shakes and ‘malted milk’ panders to the American servicemen missing the tastes of home.
[Scene 184] A Marine Air Division fighter plane flies over head. Five Marines on foot with a New Zealand hunter on a horse with a dog, head along a gravel road. The men are all armed with rifles and soon are following the hunter, now also on foot, through scrub on exposed coastal ranges (possibly the Tararua's?). They find cover, sitting down in tall scrub, finally all shooting at some target(s) (wild game?).
CEREMONY TO HONOUR NGĀRIMU’S VC, RUATORIA, 6 OCTOBER 1943
The footage on this reel shows performances from the ceremony to mark the investiture of 2nd Lieutenant Moana-Nui-a-Kiwa Ngārimu’s Victoria Cross. It was the sixth VC to be awarded to a New Zealander in the war, and the first to a Māori soldier. On a specially built outdoor stage, Māori performances of waiata and kapa haka entertain the large crowds of soldiers and civilians. Sound intermittently comes and goes, and the picture abruptly cuts from one performance segment to the next. The opening welcoming song cuts to the end strains of ‘God Save the King’ and a brief shot of New Zealand officers standing to attention, before returning to the main stage performances.
Sir Apirana Ngata is briefly glimpsed near the microphone in front of the stage, as the master of ceremonies for this auspicious occasion. Members of the Māori Battalion perform haka followed by a poi dance.