June 2021 was a significant month for the New Zealand Army, the Royal New Zealand Army Ordnance Corps (RNZAOC), and its successor, the Royal New Zealand Army Logistic Regiment (RNZALR). This month marks the one-hundredth anniversary of the establishment of Burnham Camp. It also celebrates the continuous presence of one unit at Burnham since 1921: the NZAOC Ordnance Depot, now 3 Catering and Supply Company, RNZALR.

The site where Burnham Camp now stands was originally the Burnham Industrial School for neglected and delinquent children, established in 1875. The Territorials used it as a training site from 1914, and it was recommended in 1918 that the school and grounds continue to be used for future Territorial Force annual camps.

The Industrial School closed in 1918. With wartime training ceasing, the need for a permanent army camp to act as a mobilisation centre in the South Island was recognised. Burnham’s facilities served the Army well during the war, prompting negotiations to transfer the industrial school buildings and land from the Education Department to the Defence Department.

On 11 September 1920, the Education and Defence Departments agreed to hand over the Burnham Industrial School to the Defence Department for use as a military training camp and ordnance depot.

Since 1906, the NZAOC had maintained two mobilisation and ordnance stores in the South Island to support the southern military districts. One store was located at King Edward Barracks in Christchurch, and it was responsible for the Canterbury and Nelson Military District. The other was in St Andrew Street, Dunedin, serving the Otago and Southland Military Districts. Post-war reorganisation of the New Zealand Military Forces and the arrival of new military equipment from the UK led to the establishment of a South Island Ordnance Depot at Burnham. On 15 November 1920, the NZAOC took over the existing Education Department buildings at Burnham for an ordnance depot. Concurrently, approval was granted for a new North Island Ordnance Depot at Hopuhopu to serve the Northern Military District.

With the closure of the Dunedin store and the imminent transfer of stores from the North Island, establishing the new ordnance depot became urgent. Accordingly, £500 (2021 NZD 48,639.23) was approved in November 1920 for purchasing and erecting shelving. An additional £600 (2021 NZD 58,367.07) was approved for erecting new buildings, including twenty-five from Featherston Camp and relocating Buckley Barracks from Lyttelton for use by the ordnance depot.

As the Canterbury and Nelson Military Districts and the Otago and Southland Military Districts were combined into the Southern Military Command, Captain Arthur Rumbold Carter White was appointed Ordnance Officer Southern Command on 27 May 1921. White was appointed Defence Storekeeper for the Canterbury District in 1906. He was reclassified as the Assistant Director of Equipment and Ordnance Stores, granted honorary rank in February 1916, and commissioned as Captain in the New Zealand Army Ordnance Department (NZAOD) in 1917.

With the transfer between the Education and Defence Departments finalised on 31 May 1921, Major E. Puttick of the NZ Staff “Q” Duties formally received the property and buildings of Burnham Camp from the Education Department. Confirming Burnham’s status as a New Zealand military camp, General Order 255 of 20 June 1921 appointed Captain A.R.C. White, NZAOD, as the first Commandant of Burnham Camp, a position he would hold until 1930.

The ordnance depot remained in the Industrial School buildings until 1941, when a purpose-built warehouse and ammunition area was completed. Since 1921, Burnham Camp has undergone many transformations and remains, one hundred years on, the South Island home of the NZ Army.

Despite many units coming and going from Burnham Camp, the only unit to retain a constant presence has been the Ordnance Depot. Over the past century, as the nature of logistic support and its delivery have evolved, the original Ordnance Depot has undergone many reorganisations, role, and name changes, including:

• 1921-1942, Southern Districts Ordnance Depot
• 1942-1948, No 3 Ordnance Sub Depot
• 1948 was renamed and split into
  • Southern Districts Ordnance Depot (SDOD)
  • Southern Districts Ammunition Depot (SDAD) and
  • Southern Districts Vehicle Depot (SDVD)
• 1961 SDOD reorganised to include the SDVD and SDAD
• 1968 Renamed 3 Central Ordnance Depot (2 COD)
• 16 October 1978 Renamed to 3 Supply Company
• 1990 Renamed to 3 Field Supply Company
• 9 December 1996 became 3 Supply Company, Royal New Zealand Army Logistic Regiment (RNZALR)., and later renamed 3 Catering and Supply Company, RNZALR

Although other corps and regiments have been tenants at Burnham Camp, the Ordnance Store has been a constant and unbroken tenant from 1921 as an NZAOC unit, then an RNZAOC unit, and now an RNZALR unit. This service record in one location is unmatched by any other unit of the New Zealand Army.