More Info →Rangiotu Army Camp

During World War One Manawaroa Te Awe Awe offered the Government the use of part of his farm for a training camp, to replace the camp at Trentham (Wellington) which had been evacuated. Samuel Jickell, Palmerston North Borough Council Civil Engineer, prepared a comprehensive report on the drainage, sanitation and water supply of Trentham Military Camp, and when he laid out the Rangiotu camp near Palmerston North in 1915 he made sure that the poor conditions at Trentham were not repeated. During 1915 men from the 1st & 2nd New Zealand Rifle Brigade and the Earl of Liverpool’s Own Regiment used the land. Initially the camp was situated where the Rangiotu School was but later it moved 1 mile west, opposite Pyke’s Road. The entire camp was moved by hand and occupied approx. 3000 acres and could accommodate 2,000 men. To avoid cutting up the ground, no wheeled vehicles were allowed in the camp.