New Zealand - May Morn Camp - 1915 - 10th Reinforcements - Xmas Dinner out in the open - Historic Photo, postcard format #300970 - In 1915 a new training camp was established at Maymorn (then sometimes spelt May Morn) in the Mangaroa Valley. This was needed in order to cope with the overflow of recruits at the main camp in Trentham. Maymorn was what was known as a “canvas camp” in that no barracks were built and only tents were used to accommodate the soldiers. It was nevertheless considered a model camp, particularly with regards to its sanitary arrangements. The few wooden buildings on site served for such purposes as the headquarters, the cookhouse, the stores, the hospital and recreational facilities. - The camp at Maymorn was located adjacent to a recently closed sawmill which had been owned by an English company, the Maymorn Estate. The mill had been one of the most modern and technologically sophisticated in the country but it turned out to be unprofitable and was shut in 1914. Some of its buildings were made use of by the military: the base of its chimney stack, for instance, was used to store high explosives. - Maymorn camp and its surroundings in the Mangaroa Valley were also the location of night exercises and a mock “dawn attack” that took place as part of the “March over the Hill”. At the conclusion of their infantry training at Featherston, troops would march over the Rimutakas, spending a night sleeping in the open at Kaitoke and then Maymorn, before returning to Trentham to wait embarkation overseas. - The 3rd and 4th Battalions of the New Zealand Rifle Brigade were the first troops to occupy Maymorn camp. They were later replaced by the 11th Infantry Reinforcements. The camp was closed in January 1916. (http://uhcl.recollect.co.nz/pages/ww100_Maymorn/)