The Palmerston North Showgrounds served as a military facility throughout the Second World War, hosting a succession of units across its wartime life. Its most famous occupants were the Māori Battalion, who conducted their initial assembly and training there, but the Showgrounds also accommodated the Manawatu Mounted Rifles, HQ 2 Brigade, HQ 4 Division, and 2 ASC Company. This article focuses on one of the Showgrounds’ lesser-known occupants — No 2 Sub Depot, NZAOC — which operated from the site between 1942 and December 1945, sustaining military units across the lower North Island during the most demanding years of the war.

The wartime NZAOC

During the Second World War, the New Zealand Army Ordnance Corps (NZAOC) efficiently organised its supply functions within the country. The central hub of this During the Second World War, the New Zealand Army Ordnance Corps organised its home-service supply functions through the Main Ordnance Depot at Trentham, which oversaw a network of subordinate units positioned across the country. These included:

• HQ Ammunition Section at Belmont
• Ammunition Sections at Makomako and Waiouru
• Bulk Stores at Linton and Mangere
• Artillery Sub Depot at Waiouru
• Inspection Ordnance Officer Section in the Central Military District, Palmerston North
• Ammunition Repair Depot in Kuku Valley

Ordnance Sub Depots were also established in each military district:

• Northern Military District — No 1 Sub Depot at Hopuhopu Military Camp
• Central Military District — No 2 Sub Depot at the Palmerston North Showgrounds
• Southern Military District — No 3 Sub Depot at Burnham Camp

(Note: Until 20 August 1942, these were known as District Ordnance Depots — Northern, Central, and Southern — before being redesignated as numbered Sub Depots.)

At the outbreak of war, the Northern and Southern District Ordnance Depots were well-established. The Northern Depot at Hopuhopu had been commissioned in 1927 as a purpose-built ordnance facility. The Southern Depot at Burnham, established in 1921, had been substantially upgraded in the early 1940s to meet wartime demands.

The position in the Central Military District was different. While records show a Palmerston North Ordnance Detachment during the First World War, there is limited evidence of a sustained ordnance presence in Palmerston North during the interwar years. In the interests of economy, logistical support to units in the lower North Island had been provided directly from Trentham.

Upon the mobilisation of the 2nd New Zealand Expeditionary Force, Home Defence Forces, and Territorial Forces, the need for a Central Districts depot became unavoidable. In early 1942, the Central Districts Ordnance Depot was established at the Palmerston North Showgrounds, with Lieutenant William Saul Keegan of the New Zealand Temporary Staff appointed as Ordnance Officer for the Central Military District and Officer Commanding the Palmerston North Detachment. His appointment took effect on 1 March 1942.

The Palmerston North Showgrounds

The choice of the Showgrounds as the depot’s location was well-considered. Situated on the block bounded by Featherston, Waldegrave, Pascal, and Cuba Streets, the site lay immediately adjacent to the Palmerston North Railway yards — then located in what is now the Railway Reserve on Pioneer Highway. This position gave the depot direct access to rail links connecting it to the Main Ordnance Depot at Trentham and to suppliers across the country, while road connections allowed distribution to subordinate units throughout the lower North Island.

The Showgrounds offered some of the largest covered spaces available in the region. Five interconnected exhibition halls under a single roof provided substantial storage capacity, with additional hardstanding available for vehicles and bulk defence stores. As other units arrived, facilities including cookhouses, dining halls, accommodation huts, tents, and ablutions were progressively established across the site.

In the early war years, military occupation was treated as a temporary arrangement and the Manawatu Agricultural and Pastoral Association retained partial use of the facility. As the threat from Japan became acute in late 1941, a decision was made to allocate the Showgrounds exclusively to the military for the duration of the conflict.

No 2 Sub Depot

Following redesignation on 20 August 1942, the Central Districts Ordnance Depot became No 2 Sub Depot. The depot occupied the Waldegrave Street side of the Showgrounds, with each of the five interconnected halls assigned to specific storage functions:

• Hall 1: Clothing — boots, tunics, greatcoats, underwear, and related items
• Hall 2: Tools, spare parts, and expendable stores — hardware, nails, wire, rope, paint, thinners, and linseed oil, in quantities that reputedly exceeded the combined stock of all merchants in Palmerston North
• Hall 3: Camp fittings, crockery, cutlery, sheets, blankets, and household linens, numbered in the thousands
• Halls 4 and 5: General Army equipment, including rifles and machine-guns

Flammable materials — paints, turpentine, and kerosene — were initially stored within the main buildings. In 1943 dedicated storage structures with concrete floors and iron walls and roofs were provided, reducing the fire risk within the halls.

Explosives and ammunition were also held at the Showgrounds until 1943, when the completion of the Makomako ammunition area allowed their transfer. With buildings frequently filled to capacity — stock sometimes stacked to the ceilings — two nightwatchmen were employed to provide security and act as a fire picket during nighttime hours. Fire safety was taken seriously: regular inspections were conducted in coordination with the Palmerston North Fire Brigade, and the depot maintained a stock of buckets, bucket pumps, hoses, and fire extinguishers. Flammable goods were stored between non-flammable items to create firebreaks. Despite this, the Brigade considered the measures sufficient and did not require an automatic alarm system to be installed — a decision that would have unforeseen consequences.

Beyond the Showgrounds, No 2 Sub Depot maintained overflow accommodation including Part Worn Clothing stores in Rangitikei and Church Streets, and engineer dumps at two Fielding locations.

By the end of December 1944, the total value of stock held at the depot was estimated at £1,100,000, equivalent to approximately NZ$90 million in current values.

Depot Establishment

When formally constituted on 17 August 1942, No 2 Sub Depot was established with a complement of three officers and 81 other ranks, organised across stores, clerical, and support functions.

Owing to wartime manpower pressures, the posted strength of the depot never reached its full establishment. The competing demands of the 2nd NZEF and Home Defence Forces meant that units in New Zealand consistently operated with fewer personnel than authorised.

February 1943 — The Unit Photograph

By February 1943, the posted strength of No 2 Sub Depot stood at one officer and 66 other ranks. The group photograph taken on 8 February 1943 provides a remarkable record of the unit at this point in its development.

The photograph shows 64 personnel, with three further members recorded as absent. The complete roll therefore accounts for 67 personnel — one officer and 66 other ranks — precisely matching the posted strength for that month. The officer seated near the centre of the third row is Captain William Saul Keegan, Officer Commanding No 2 Sub Depot and Ordnance Officer for the Central Military District. Keegan had commanded the Palmerston North ordnance establishment since 1 March 1942 and remained central to its operation throughout the war.

The presence of two members of the Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps — J. B. Chapman and M. J. Nix, identifiable in the third row — reflects the essential contribution made by women to the administrative and logistical work of the wartime ordnance organisation at a time when manpower shortages made their service indispensable.

Beyond recording names, the photograph captures the depot at an important stage in its development. No 2 Sub Depot had been formally constituted only six months earlier. From the Palmerston North Showgrounds, this comparatively small group was responsible for receiving, storing, and distributing an extensive range of clothing, equipment, tools, weapons, camp stores, and general supplies across the entire Central Military District. The photograph is not merely a record of individuals — it identifies the men and women whose daily work sustained military units throughout the lower North Island during one of the most demanding periods of the Second World War.

Back row, left to right:
Pte J. S. Carswell; Pte W. L. Wackrow; Pte M. G. Kensington; Pte F. Manning; Pte W. W. Mitchell; Pte J. W. Ridley; Pte J. Kearns; Pte C. L. Revell; Pte A. F. Picken; Pte C. B. Weeks; Pte E. F. Homer; Pte C. M. Harper; Pte E. A. Morgan; Pte J. H. Cope.

Second row, left to right:
Pte J. A. Alderson; L/Cpl D. A. Lloyd; L/Cpl D. T. Spring; Pte J. T. Bright; Pte K. K. Cutfield; Pte W. J. Welsh; Pte F. B. Spielman; Pte J. W. Marriott; Pte H. T. Guthrie; Pte K. M. Garner; Pte J. C. Pegden; Pte D. H. Looney; Pte W. A. Newlands; Pte J. J. Richardson; Pte C. Barr; Pte M. J. Curran; Pte J. E. McKinley; Pte D. W. McLennan.

Third row, left to right:
L/Cpl K. L. Collinson; Pte B. P. Trehey; WAAC J. B. Chapman; L/Cpl H. A. Reeves; L/Cpl K. W. Parker; L/Cpl M. A. Ongley; Sgt W. J. Carson; Sgt J. F. Fowlds; Captain W. S. Keegan; Sgt W. H. Jones; Sgt A. J. Fraser; L/Cpl A. McKinley; L/Cpl I. B. Smith; L/Cpl G. F. Hall; WAAC M. J. Nix; Pte W. M. Miller; L/Cpl W. H. Kempthorne.

Front row, left to right:
L/Cpl J. Rodgers; Pte L. G. Dovey; Pte O. W. Gillion; Pte L. H. Steele; Pte N. G. Donaldson; Pte J. E. A. Pouple; Pte F. E. Price; Pte H. K. Snell; Pte G. Edmonds; Pte P. W. Comber; Pte H. R. Childs; Pte W. E. Norris; Pte W. J. Broughton; L/Cpl L. S. Goss; Pte A. L. Harris.

Absent:
L/Cpl E. G. Kinzett; Pte J. T. Allen; Pte E. W. Clarke.

Expansion — October 1943 to February 1944

As wartime demand increased, the depot’s establishment grew. By 30 October 1943, it had risen to three officers and 95 other ranks, with a posted strength of two officers and 88 other ranks.

On 1 November 1943 the establishment was revised to three officers and 92 other ranks.

By 29 February 1944, the posted strength stood at two officers and 83 other ranks.

The Fire — 31 December 1944

On the evening of 31 December 1944, the superintendent of the Palmerston North Fire Brigade, Mr Milverton, was tracing faults in the city’s general fire alarm system. The fault led him to the Showgrounds, where he determined that vibrations from heavy motor traffic were causing false activations on the loop serving the site. As a temporary measure, he disconnected the Showgrounds loop from the alarm system, marked the alarm boxes as out of order, and informed the military authorities.

At approximately 9.30 pm, Sergeant W. C. Luffman, the Senior NCO of the Showgrounds guard, completed his patrol and found nothing unusual. During his next patrol at 10.30 pm, he discovered the cookhouse copper empty and red-hot, with the gas flame still burning beneath it and a piece of wall timber alight. Luffman turned off the gas, returned to the main gate, and with Private Wagstaff used a stirrup pump to extinguish the burning timber. After confirming the fire was out, Wagstaff filled the copper with cold water, checked the surrounding ironwork, confirmed it was cool, refilled the stirrup pump, and left it beside the copper as a precaution.

At 11.35 pm, Privates Wagstaff and Collins — the Ordnance night watchman — were directed to inspect the wall of the adjacent Ordnance Store, opposite where the earlier fire had occurred. Luffman returned to the kitchen, found everything in order, and returned to the guard house at approximately 11.55 pm.

Shortly before midnight, Luffman noticed a glow in the sky near the Ordnance Depot. He went immediately to the guard house telephone to call the Fire Brigade. There was no response — the Showgrounds alarm connection had been disconnected earlier that evening. Local residents had already spotted the fire and raised the alarm independently. Luffman heard the fire engines approaching before he could make contact.

On arrival, firefighters found the building adjoining the cookhouse — the Ordnance Store — fully alight, with flames breaking through the roof. Three motor engines attended. It was not until midday on New Year’s Day that the last embers were finally extinguished.

The row of six private dwellings on Waldegrave Street, which backed directly onto the Showgrounds, was saved, though it required substantial water to prevent the fire spreading to them. The A&P Association’s administrative offices were also preserved. Halls 1, 2, and 3 were destroyed. Halls 4 and 5 survived. It was, at that time, the largest fire the Palmerston North Fire Brigade had ever fought.

Aftermath and Inquiry

An inquiry was conducted in March 1945 by Captain Keegan as the officer responsible for the depot. The estimated loss from the fire was £225,700, equivalent to approximately NZ$18.6 million in current values. Keegan noted that a significant portion of the stock had been salvaged, and that while substantial quantities of clothing and general stores were destroyed, the losses were not as catastrophic as the scale of the fire initially suggested.

One specific claim warrants attention. A belief has persisted in some accounts that the majority of Charlton automatic rifles held at Palmerston North were destroyed in the fire. The contemporary record does not support this. Keegan’s testimony to the inquiry does not identify Charlton rifles as a significant component of the fire losses, and the enduring claim appears to derive from later secondary accounts rather than from the inquiry itself.

Initial suspicion that the fire might have been set deliberately to conceal thefts from the depot was examined and dismissed. Keegan presented detailed accounting evidence showing that over the depot’s two years and nine months of operation, thefts and losses from all sources totalled only £627 — approximately NZ$52,000 in current values. During the same period, surpluses valued at £1,600 were identified, meaning the depot had actually over-accounted for stock rather than under-accounted. There was no financial motive consistent with deliberate arson.

Detective F. Quin of the New Zealand Police testified to extensive investigations into the fire’s cause. No evidence of sabotage, incendiary devices, or external interference was found. The individual who had left the cookhouse copper running unattended could not be identified.

The timing, though devastating in terms of materiel loss, was fortunate in one respect. By December 1944 the threat of invasion had passed, the Home Guard had been stood down, and the bulk of Territorial and Home Defence forces had been demobilised. The military capacity of the depot had already contracted from its wartime peak, and the loss of the stores had limited impact on ongoing operations.

Post War Reorganisation

No 2 Sub Depot continued operating from the Palmerston North Showgrounds following the fire, drawing on replacement stock and the surviving halls. Its functions were transferred to the Main Ordnance Depot at Trentham on 14 December 1945, marking the end of the Showgrounds’ wartime ordnance role.

The New Zealand Government had acquired land at Linton in October 1941 for a military camp, with the first units taking occupation in February 1942. The Main Ordnance Depot had established a satellite Bulk Store at Linton early in the camp’s life, operating independently of No 2 Sub Depot and serving the logistical needs of units based there.

Reestablishment at Linton

On 1 October 1946, the Linton Bulk Store was formally redesignated as No 2 Ordnance Depot. The new unit assumed responsibility for units stationed in the Linton area and also took on oversight of Main Ordnance Depot sub-units at Waiouru Camp.

Over the following five decades, the depot at Linton continued as the enduring ordnance and logistics unit in the camp, undergoing a succession of redesignations as the Army’s structure evolved:

• Central Districts Ordnance Depot: 1948–1968
• 2 Central Ordnance Depot: 1968–1979
• 2 Supply Company: 1979–1985
• 5 Composite Supply Company: 1985–1990
• 21 Field Supply Company: 1990–1996

Today the unit continues as 21 Supply Company within the Royal New Zealand Army Logistic Regiment — the longest-standing resident unit in Linton Camp, a distinction it has held continuously since 1942.

Copyright © Robert McKie 2017