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Recruitment cartoon for Māori

Image

This work by William Blomfield, entitled 'The spirit of his fathers', appeared in the December 1915 issue of the New Zealand Observer. It shows a Māori soldier charging two Ottoman Turk soldiers with the ghost of a Māori warrior behind him. Cartoons like this attempted to evoke the spirit of the Māori god of war, Tū-mata-uenga, to encourage Māori participation in the war.

Credit

Alexander Turnbull Library
Reference: A-312-1-088
Permission of the Alexander Turnbull Library, National Library of New Zealand, Te Puna Matauranga o Aotearoa, must be obtained before any reuse of this image.

How to cite this page

Recruitment cartoon for Māori, URL: https://nzhistory.govt.nz/media/photo/recruitment-cartoon-maori, (Manatū Taonga — Ministry for Culture and Heritage), updated