From the First World War to the Corps’ amalgamation into the RNZALR in 1996, Ordnance soldiers wore a small family of badges that evolved with the organisation. Despite variations in metal finish and detail, the core design language stayed remarkably consistent: crown, garter, the “Ordnance shield” of three guns and three round-shot, the Corps motto on a riband, and “NZ” to mark national service.

This page summarises the main patterns and clears up a few persistent misconceptions..

The Crown

• 1937 – 1955 – the Kings (Tudor) crown
• 1955 – 1996 – the Queens (St Edwards) Crown

Annulus

• 1937-47 pattern badge – annulus inscribed with the words “New Zealand Army Ordnance Corps
• 1948 -96 pater badges – annulus was the royal Garter inscribed with the motto of the British Order of the Garter ‘Honi soit qui mal y pense’

Riband

The Riband has had Many variations since 1916. Inscriptions have included.

• Ordnance
• Army Ordnance Dept
• Army Ordnance Corps
• Sua Tela Tonanti

Shield

The most recognisable feature on all Ordnance badges is the Ordnance shield of three cannons and three cannonballs.

Collar badges

Collar badges were either a variation or copy of the cap badge, coming in pairs with the cannons facing inwards.

THE BADGES

Pre-war

Before the First World War, the New Zealand Military Forces had no dedicated ordnance organisation. Responsibilities were split between two bodies: the Defence Stores Department, which handled the supply and maintenance of clothing, accoutrements, small arms, machine-guns, and associated ammunition; and the Royal New Zealand Artillery, which managed the storage and maintenance of artillery equipment and ammunition.

The need for a New Zealand ordnance organisation was recognised as early as 1900. While Canada and Australia moved to establish an indigenous ordnance corps on the British model, New Zealand proceeded more cautiously.

From 1900, three armourers of the British Army Ordnance Corps (AOC) were seconded to the New Zealand Defence Stores. By 1912, they had trained enough local armourers that a formal trade and career pathway, from apprentice to senior armourer, was required. To provide this structure, the New Zealand Ordnance Corps (NZOC) was established on 1 May 1912. While seconded, the AOC armourers were expected to wear a New Zealand uniform and embellishments; however, with the NZOC’s establishment, it is possible that, as members of a specialist corps, the British NCOs reverted to wearing their AOC badges.

General ordnance services began to take shape at the 1913 annual camps, where temporary Ordnance Store Depots were piloted as a proof of concept. The experiment created the nucleus of an ordnance corps, with selected Territorial Force personnel trained in ordnance duties.

Under this temporary scheme, a small ordnance cadre operated at each annual camp from 1913 under the Director of Equipment and Stores. It remains unclear whether these depot personnel wore any distinctive insignia.

First World War 1914-1921

As mobilisation began, Ordnance Depots were raised and staffed by personnel who had received ordnance training at earlier annual camps. One example is Temporary Sergeant Norman Levien, who transferred from the 3rd Auckland Regiment to the Ordnance Department as In charge of Stores and Equipment, playing a key role in equipping troops for overseas service.

Levien later enlisted in the NZEF and became a founding member of the New Zealand Army Ordnance Corps (NZAOC) when it was formed within the NZEF in March 1915. He remained with the Corps throughout the war, rising to Major and serving as Chief Ordnance Officer for the NZEF in the United Kingdom.

Royal New Zealand Artillery Ordnance Corps Section

To offset distance from traditional supply sources and wartime constraints, an Ordnance Corps Section for inspecting and manufacturing artillery ammunition was established on 1 April 1915 at Fort Balance, Wellington. As part of the Royal New Zealand Artillery, its personnel wore the RNZA badge.

NZEF New Zealand Army Ordnance Corps 1916-1919.

The NZAOC began as an ad hoc arrangement during NZEF mobilisation in 1914 and was formally constituted in March 1915, with Sergeants T. J. King and N. J. Levien commissioned as Second Lieutenants. The exact date the Corps adopted its own insignia is unknown; photographic evidence from Zeitoun Camp (1915) shows a New Zealand ordnance soldier wearing British AOC badges, likely used for identification until New Zealand patterns were issued.

There is no reliable photographic or documentary evidence that New Zealand ordnance soldiers modified British AOC badges by adding “NZ”. Such field-made alterations may have been tried, but they were never authorised and, if they occurred at all, were short-lived.

An official NZAOC cap badge—derived from the British Army Ordnance Department device—was introduced for the NZEF and became the recognised insignia of the Corps, superseding any unofficial experiments..

Official NZEF NZAOC Badge

The official NZEF NZAOC badge was derived from the British AOD device, with the letters “NZ” superimposed on the shield. The exact pathway to its introduction is not documented.

In late 1916, Norman Levien was promoted to Captain and appointed Chief Ordnance Officer for the NZEF in the United Kingdom. Through liaison with other Commonwealth ordnance services—particularly the Canadian Ordnance Corps (COC)—he may have been influenced by their approach to national distinction. The COC, authorised in 1903, used an AOD-based badge with a beaver as its crest, signalling a national identity atop the common ordnance motif.

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J. R. Gaunt, London, manufactured the NZEF NZAOC cap badge. It was die-struck, with the “NZ” separately made and then soldered (“sweated on”). This suggests two possibilities: either surplus British AOD badges were reworked by adding the NZ cypher, or new badges were produced from purpose-made dies for the NZEF. The precise method is not documented.

Matching collar badges were produced as miniature versions of the cap badge. Issued as facing pairs, they had the guns pointing inwards.

The badge was likely introduced in late 1916 and remained in use until NZEF demobilisation in 1919. Some personnel on residual duties in the United Kingdom continued to wear it until 1921. Surplus stocks were repatriated to New Zealand as part of the NZEF wind-down.

Variations of the NZEF NZAOC Badge

Documented examples show the NZEF NZAOC cap badge—with matching, facing collar badges—produced in both brass and bronze.

Some former NZEF ordnance personnel continued to wear the NZEF pattern in the inter-war years. A 1934 photograph shows Armament Staff Sergeant Arthur Stewart Richardson wearing the NZEF-pattern cap badge, while Armament Staff Sergeant John William (“Bill”) Dalton wears the 1917 pattern.

New Zealand Army Ordnance Department and New Zealand Army Ordnance Corps 1917-1923

On 1 February 1917, the New Zealand Army Ordnance Department (NZAOD) was established for commissioned ordnance officers, alongside the New Zealand Army Ordnance Corps (NZAOC) for warrant officers, NCOs, and other ranks. Together they were responsible for the supply, maintenance, and repair of equipment, small arms, and ordnance stores for the Defence Force.

At formation, the NZAOD/NZAOC drew personnel from the Defence Stores Department, NZOC armourers, and gunners from the RNZA Ordnance Corps Section.

New Zealand Army Ordnance Department Badge 1917-1924

Derived from the British Army Ordnance Department (AOD) device, the New Zealand version introduced two clear changes: the central round shot in the top panel of the shield was replaced by the letters “NZ”, and the scroll beneath the shield was inscribed “Army Ordnance Department.”

New Zealand Army Ordnance Corps Badge 1917-1937

Inspired by the British AOC device, the New Zealand version introduced clear national distinctions: the centre round shot in the top panel of the shield was replaced by “NZ”, and the scroll beneath the shield read “Army Ordnance Corps.”

The 1917 pattern is unusual among ordnance cap badges in that the guns face in the opposite direction to those on the British AOC pattern.

The collar badge, shared by both the NZAOD and NZAOC, was a simplified shield: inward-facing guns, the centre round shot replaced by “NZ”, and no scroll.

In 1924, the NZAOD was reorganised into the NZAOC; the NZAOC cap badge continued in service as the Corps badge until 1937.

Variations of the NZAOC 1917-1937 Badge

Examples of the NZAOC 1917-1937 Badge can be found in;

• Brass, and
• Bronze

 

New Zealand Army Ordnance Corps 1937-1947

By 1936, stocks of the 1917-pattern cap badge had been exhausted, leaving only collar badges. The Director of Ordnance Services (DOS) proposed to the Quartermaster-General (QMG) that existing NZEF NZAOC stocks—180 cap badges and 319 pairs of collar- were to be replaced.

In February 1937, the DOS initiated a competition within the NZAOC to select a new design. Sergeant C. Bryant’s entry won, drawing on the contemporary style of the Royal Army Ordnance Corps (RAOC).

The New Zealand badge followed the RAOC pattern but with national distinctions: the annulus carried “New Zealand Army Ordnance Corps”, and the riband bore “Sua Tela Tonanti”. The design received formal approval on 31 May 1937.

Variations of the NZAOC 1937-1947 Badge

Documented examples of the 1937–1947 NZAOC cap badge—usually with matching, facing collar badges—exist in the following finishes:

• Brass
• Bronze
• Plastic (wartime economy issue)
• Gilt silver and enamel (officers’ pattern)

Second World War

Wartime use of the NZEF NZAOC Badge 1939-1947

During the war, earlier NZEF NZAOC badges were recycled for home-service use, primarily by the New Zealand Temporary Staff (NZTS) and within NZAOC units.

New Zealand Temporary Staff 1939-1947

From September 1939, the rapid expansion of the home army created acute manpower gaps. The NZTS was raised as a wartime measure to staff new establishments, drawing on older personnel and those medically unfit for overseas service but suitable for home duty—particularly in NZAOC and Motor Transport (MT) Branch units.

Although the official NZTS badge was the Fernleaf, special permission allowed NZTS personnel serving in Ordnance and MT Branch units to wear the earlier NZEF NZAOC cap badge.

The NZTS was disestablished in January 1947 with the creation of the post-war interim army.

New Zealand Ordnance Corps 1940-1947

In December 1940 the New Zealand Ordnance Corps (NZOC) was constituted as an independent corps to provide the ordnance component of the home-service Territorial Force (then often called the Territorial Army). It supported home defence and supplied trained personnel to the Expeditionary Force.

In 1947, a reorganisation removed the distinction between Regular and non-Regular soldiers. The NZOC ceased as a separate corps, with its personnel and functions absorbed into the New Zealand Army Ordnance Corps (NZAOC).

Variations of the NZTS & NZOC 1939-1947 Badge

Examples of the NZTS & NZOC 1939-1947 Badge can be found in

• Brass
• Bronze
• Lead
• White Metal

Interim Army 1946-48

With the creation of the post-war Interim Army, the Fernleaf cap badge was adopted as its emblem on 11 September 1946. To preserve esprit de corps and continuity with pre-war formations, on 26 September 1946 authorities authorised personnel affiliated with recognised corps—Engineers, Artillery, Ordnance, Electrical and Mechanical Engineers, Army Service Corps, and Signals—to continue wearing their corps or unit badges.

During this period, many NZOC, NZTS, and Motor Transport Branch personnel transferred to the newly formed NZEME but continued to wear the ordnance badge. With only 881 NZOC cap badges remaining in store, a direction issued on 1 October 1946 required all NZOC, NZTS, and MT Branch personnel now serving in NZEME to adopt the Fernleaf badge.

 

Royal New Zealand Army Ordnance Corps 1947-1955

On 12 July 1947 the NZAOC was granted Royal status and adopted a new cap badge. The RNZAOC device featured a Tudor Crown above the Garter bearing Honi soit qui mal y pense. Beneath the garter, the letters “NZ” were set above a riband inscribed “Sua Tela Tonanti” (“To the warrior his arms”), signalling the Corps’ elevated standing.

Initial procurements

• United Kingdom (officers’ pattern): 175 gilt/silver/enamel cap badges; 158 pairs of gilt/silver/enamel collar badges.
• New Zealand (other ranks’ pattern): 1,600 brass cap badges; 850 pairs of brass collar badges.

In 1947, Army Order 36/1947 authorised a 2-inch diamond backing patch to be worn on the Cap, GS or beret behind corps cap badges. For Ordnance, the patch was vertically divided red and blue (example below).

Variations of the RNZAOC 1947-1955 Badge

Examples of the RNZAOC 1947-1955 Badge with matching collar badges can be found in.

• Brass,
• Gilt Silver and Enamel.

Royal New Zealand Army Ordnance Corps 1955-1996

Following Queen Elizabeth II’s accession on 6 February 1952, a replacement design featuring the St Edward’s Crown was approved in 1955. Due to production delays with the new anodised aluminium cap badges, distribution did not begin until 1962; anodised collar badges became available earlier, from May 1960. Consequently, the 1947–55 Tudor-crown pattern remained in service well into the 1960s.

Anodised Badges

To retain a brass-like appearance, the first post-1955 issue was a plain gilt anodised cap badge. Although approved in 1955, distribution did not begin until 31 May 1962.

In 1964, the Corps moved towards coloured anodised badges. J. R. Gaunt submitted three trial patterns:

• Sample A — blue applied to the riband background, excluding the garter buckle and the letters “NZ”.
• Sample B — blue applied to the riband background, excluding the garter buckle.
• Sample C — blue applied to the riband background, including the garter buckle.

Sample C was accepted and progressively intruded into service from October 1965.

Matching collar badges were provided for both the plain and coloured anodised badges.

Gilt Silver and Enamel

As with the two preceding RNZAOC patterns, an officers’ gilt, silver and enamel version of the 1955–96 cap badge—with matching collar badges—was produced for wear by officers and warrant officers.

Bullion Woven

The Final Badges

In the early 1990s, the New Zealand Army rationalised cap and collar badges to reduce the cost of maintaining separate officers’ and other ranks’ patterns.

The last RNZAOC cap badge closely followed the officers’ gilt, silver and enamel design, but with a white-metal insert of three round shot mounted above the shield. During production, some inserts were fixed at a slight angle, leading to the batch being quarantined; only a small number were issued before the RNZAOC was disestablished.

The final collar badge was metal with a gilt finish and painted coloured details.

A note on the “mark of shame” myth

A persistent rumour suggests that adopting RAOC-style devices somehow signified second-rate status. In reality, New Zealand’s use of the shared Ordnance heraldry signalled professional continuity within a global technical corps family—while the “NZ” distinction and local variations clearly marked national identity. Recent research on the insignia’s evolution sets this record straight.

After 1996

On 8 December 1996, the RNZAOC amalgamated into the Royal New Zealand Army Logistic Regiment (RNZALR). RNZALR cap badges and trade insignia form a separate, ongoing story; see the RNZALR insignia guide for details.

Copyright © Robert McKie 2022

New Zealand Army Ordnance Corps Badges 1916-1996