Nau mai ki te pānui
o Ngā Taonga
Welcome to our newsletter

In honour of Anzac Day, we are pleased to share a new story by sound history researcher Sarah Johnston about a 1943 battle at Takrouna, led by Sergeant Haane Te Rauawa Manahi, and the broadcasters who got the news back to New Zealand. We also have a newly uploaded audio recording of Prime Minister Peter Fraser praising the Māori Battalion soldiers who fell in the same campaign, report back from the annual Tūhonohono i ngā Taonga ā-Iwi conference and share some free resources for history teachers and students.

An extraordinary war story

When Sergeant Haane Manahi led a small group of men on an 'impossible' mission at Takrouna, the New Zealand Broadcasting Unit (NZBU) were there to share their triumphs and losses with the world. Sound history researcher Sarah Johnston, who has spent years studying recordings made by NZBU mobile units and preserved by Ngā Taonga, has written an in-depth account of intrepid soldiers and the journalists who followed them to battle.

Sarah’s deeply researched story is brought to life with wartime radio broadcasts and recordings from the front, as well as archival and family photographs of some of the people involved. Sergeant Haane Manahi is the subject of the film Sgt. Haane which is in cinemas now.

Anzac moments captured, remembered and restored

For Anzac Day, we took the opportunity to share a few of the many items now in the care of Ngā Taonga that capture how New Zealanders have commemorated over the decades. This article in The Post looks at recordings of Anzac Day events at home and overseas, dating all the way back to 1921. It features lots of embedded video and audio links for ease of access to the collection.

Prime Minister Fraser welcomes Māori Battalion soldiers home

He tangata wehi kore i kuhu ki te mura o te ahi
He tangata māia i whawhai mō te hemo tonu atu
He hautoa i pakeke mai i raro i ngā parirau o ōna kaumātua.

In this audio recording from 1943, Prime Minister Peter Fraser describes the heroic actions of New Zealand soldiers at several battles in North Africa around that time, including the Battle of Takrouna. He singles out Lieutenant Moananui-a-Kiwa Ngarimu (Ngāti Porou, Te Whānau-ā-Apanui), who was killed in action and received a posthumous Victoria Cross, for special praise. Sergeant Haane Te Rauawa Manahi (Te Arawa and Ngāti Raukawa), DCM, who is ‘the other sergeant’ mentioned in the recording, was also recommended for a Victoria Cross, but never received it.

Tūhonohono i ngā Taonga a-Iwi conference

E ngā mana, e ngā reo, e ngā iwi, e ngā rau rangatira o ngā taonga Māori, tēnā koutou!

Earlier this month, Ngā Taonga Sound & Vision attended the annual Tūhonohono i ngā Taonga ā-Iwi conference held by Te Papa Tongarewa in Napier.

We gathered with more than 30 speakers from across the motu, hearing iwi members share kōrero on whare restoration, taonga preservation, the importance of provenance, and understanding the environmental changes that may impact taonga in the future.

With many new insights, we are humbled by the extensive knowledge shared with us.

Kua kikī te kete i te mātauranga kua horaina e koutou ngā iwi o te motu. Nei rā te mihi ki a koutou, ka tika!

Education resources 

We know that many educators (and a few diligent students) are always planning for their upcoming classes. The collections we care for are a trove of historic learning material for study at all levels. To help navigate these collections, we have dedicated education resources available on our website. Explore them now. 

Meanwhile, our friends at the National Library are facilitating an online workshop in May that will help you learn how Papers Past, Digital Pasifik, and DigitalNZ can be used in your school or kura to engage students and support teaching and learning. DigitalNZ and Digital Pasifik are also great online portals to find material held by Ngā Taonga. Register here. 

News briefs

• Last week the Wellington Cenotaph was lit up with projected historical footage from the Nga Tāonga collection. We have a short video and links to the films that were used on our Facebook.
  
  
• Ngā Taonga were pleased to be mentioned in this episode of The Taonga Files about 'Why Archives Matter' alongside Archives NZ and the National Library of New Zealand. 
  
  
• Sarah Johnston talks to RNZ about Takrouna and some of the material from the Ngā Taonga collection.
  
  
• Ngā Taonga provided audio for this new RNZ podcast, The Sound of My Father.
  
  
• Te Waiwhakaata Wairarapa Film Festival have released their 2026 programme, which includes films by Barry Barclay, Dame Gaylene Preston and Annie Goldson. Ngā Taonga was proud to supply digitally preserved copies of Wairarapa and Tangata Whenua: Waikato.
  
  
• Our friends at the Govett Brewster Gallery and Len Lye Centre have a new sound exhibition inspired by Lye’s concept of ‘bodily empathy’.
  

[IMAGE CREDIT INFORMATION]

1. NZBU engineer Johnny Johnston (right) and an unknown man in the North African desert c. 1942. Johnston family collection.

2. Screengrab from Personal Record. Blackie, Norman W. [Anzac Day Parades 1954 - 1976]. Ngā Taonga collection ref. F40253. Courtesy Norman Blaikie Collection, Tauranga City Libraries.

3. Sergeant Haane Manahi (Te Arawa, Ngāti Raukawa) Photograph taken by George Bull, Maadi, Egypt, c. 10 June 1943 Ref: DA-04139. Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington, New Zealand.

4. Tūhonohono i ngā Taonga-ā-Iwi conference, EIT Hawkes Bay April 2026. Photographed by Tia Nepia-Su’a. Te Papa.

5. Ngā Taonga corporate image. Stephen A'Court Photography.