Today Ngā Taonga marks the 80th anniversary of the US Marines' arrival in New Zealand with the online launch of the Norm Hatch Collection, a significant body of never seen before WW2-era films. This very special record of wartime life in and around Wellington is now free to explore online. 

“We are excited to be making this collection accessible to the public. This marks the first opportunity for New Zealanders to see this footage and gives an important perspective into wartime life in 1940s New Zealand,” says Sarah Davy, Group Manager Accessible Collections – Pou Takatu at Ngā Taonga.

The footage was captured by Norman T Hatch, who was the head of a Marine cinematography unit and stationed in the Wellington region from 1942-1943. He and his unit shot at least 29 reels of film intended for newsreels and hundreds of photographs of Marines in training and at leisure. Some of the footage and photographs are available in the Ngā Taonga online collection.

The arrangement between New Zealand and the United States heads of state meant that reporting or recording of any of the Marine Corps' movements were banned, which is why the vast majority of this footage has never been seen by the New Zealand public. 

After returning to the United States, Hatch won an Academy Award in 1944 for Best Documentary Short for With the Marines at Tarawa, but his unique footage of New Zealand was placed in an archive in Quantico, Virginia and never seen by the public. 

Decades later, the collection has returned to the Wellington region. It was retrieved, scanned and deposited with Ngā Taonga after a joint effort by filmmaker Steve La Hood and the Kapiti United States Marine Trust (KUSMT), with funding from the US Embassy.

“The Norm Hatch US Marines’ collection is a valuable addition to the work that Ngā Taonga does to preserve Aotearoa New Zealand’s audiovisual history for future generations,” says Sarah Davy. “We care for a diverse collection of nearly 800,000 items, dating back to 1895. The collection includes film and television, sound and radio recordings, as well as video games, posters, artefacts and documents.”

Read about and view the Norm Hatch Collection on the Ngā Taonga website.

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