Northland’s Secret War Features In New Aotearoa Unearthed Podcast Episode

A new addition to a popular podcast series on New Zealand archaeology throws a spotlight on Northland’s secret war.

Podcast editor, Rosemary Baird of Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga, interviews four Northlanders who used archaeological research and investigation techniques to piece together a picture of ‘Fortress Northland’; a staggering network of defence infrastructure which was literally constructed in panicked haste following the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbour in December 1941.

The WWII in Northland episode is available to download on Spotify and iTunes from 25 April (Anzac Day).

“Rapid Japanese conquests in the Pacific region followed, including the fall of Hong Kong which happened within days of Pearl Harbour. As a result, New Zealand’s military and Public Works Department fast-tracked a plan to create a network of military camps, observation stations and other war infrastructure in response to the threat,” says Rosemary.

“Military leaders identified Northland as the most likely landing place for a Japanese invasion force, and so huge resources were invested into developing military infrastructure that could meet this challenge.”

The extraordinary network of camps and other facilities – including an integrated defence network in the Bay of Islands which included Waitangi – disappeared in 1943, almost as quickly as it had appeared once the threat from invasion had subsided.

“It vanished almost literally overnight. Nobody knew much about it until Jack Kemp and Bill Guthrie – two Heritage New Zealand volunteers in Northland – started investigating sites and interviewing people,” she says.

“Assisted by Heritage New Zealand Northland staff Bill Edwards and James Robinson, the result is a highly detailed inventory of the facilities that had been developed, and where exactly they were located. The podcast tells the story, in Jack and Bill’s words, of the journey of discovery they embarked upon which has shed new light on this hitherto all but unknown aspect of Northland’s war past.”

Aotearoa Unearthed: Archaeology for Everyone is a podcast series by Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga, produced in partnership with the New Zealand Archaeological Association. The Northland World War II podcast episode is being released for Archaeology Week 2022 (April 23 -May 1).

Archaeology Week is run annually by the New Zealand Archaeological Association, to promote the archaeology of Aotearoa New Zealand.

Aotearoa Unearthed Episode List

1. Toilets and drains in colonial Christchurch: Katharine Watson
2. Archaeological landscapes through a Māori lens: Makere Rika-Heke
3. The Southern Cemeteries Project: Hallie Buckley and Peter Petchey
4. Repatriating our ancestors: Amber Aranui
5. Dunedin’s shoreline reclamation archaeology: Matthew Schmidt
6. Māori rock art: Gerard O’Regan and Amanda Symon
7. Children’s artefacts from Christchurch: Jessie Garland
8. Protecting New Zealand’s archaeology: Vanessa Tanner
9. Investigating and dating Waikato wetland pā: Alan Hogg, Warren Gumbley, Tom Roa, Gretchen Boswijk and Isaac McIvor.
10. World War II in Northland – Jack Kemp, Bill Guthrie, Bill Edwards and James Robinson

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