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Invaluable Service: the secret history of New Zealand's signals intelligence during two world wars

by Desmond Ball, Cliff Lord and Meredith Thatcher

PB. 434pp. 220x156. Illus. with 42 pages of plates.

ISBN: 9781877431234

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More about the book


This book describes the secret activities of the many people and places involved with listening to and decoding the enemy's signals during two world wars. Known as SIGINT for Signals Intelligence, this is New Zealand's unseen contribution.
The authors have unearthed and brought to light much of what has been lost or hidden during these years, including New Zealand's significant contribution to the nerve-wracking scramble to locate the Scharnhorst battle cruiser in the northern Atlantic Ocean in 1943. Because secrecy was paramount, their station locations and personnel, their triumphs and failures, were never reported. And this secrecy continues to the present day, having all but sunk out of sight.
As Dr Warren Tucker, the Director of the Security Intelligence Service, comments in his foreword:
"I am delighted that this book now puts firmly into the public arena a record of New Zealand's small but important SIGINT contribution to the wartime Allied effort."
This book is a must for all with an interest in intelligence matters, as well as those who enjoy insider histories of the war."

Contents
Chapter 1 The Beginnings of SIGINT in New Zealand
Chapter 2 Direction, Organisation and Cooperation
Chapter 3 Awarua Radio (ZLB)
Chapter 4 Musick Point, Auckland
Chapter 5 Wellington Radio (ZLW)
Chapter 6 New Zealand's SIGINT activities in Fiji
Chapter 7 New Zealand Army SIGINT activities
Chapter 8 Naval Wireless Station, Rapaura
Chapter 9 Waiouru Naval W/T Station
Chapter 10 Monitoring Enemy Radio Broadcasts
Chapter 11 'Incalculable Aid'
Appendix Report on 'New Zealand Naval "Y", H/F D/F and Special Intelligence Organisation', 17 December 1942. DECLASSIFIED

  • Table of Contents

    The Waimauku and Muriwai area
    Waimauku Village, 1950s. Where you found people and places
    Chapter 1. Mâori arrive in Kaipara
    ......Ngâti Whâtua o Kaipara
    ......Te Kawerau â Maki
    Chapter 2. Getting around Kaipara in the 1820s
    ......The waka
    ......The travels of Samuel Marsden
    Chapter 3. Kauri and the destruction of the forest
    ......Kauri gum: an ancient treasure
    ......The legacy: No going back
    Chapter 4. The Europeans arrive
    ......Profile: Samuel Frost. Ararimu Valley, 1863
    ......Profile: Robert Annett. Waimauku, 1868
    ......Profile: Allan Kerr-Taylor. Waikoukou Valley, 1869
    ......Profile: Joseph Wilkins. Waikoukou Valley, 1869
    ......Profile: John Foster. Muriwai Falls, 1870
    ......Profile: Stanley Lester-Jonas. Waimauku, 1880
    ......Profile: James Fletcher. Waimauku, 1885
    ......Profile: William Morgan. Ararimu Valley, 1886
    ......Profile: William Moore. Muriwai, 1888
    Chapter 5. Flax
    Chapter 6. Kaipara’s sea of streams
    Chapter 7. The railway arrives, 1875
    ......The Waimauku station
    Chapter 8. Waimauku Village
    ......Foster’s Waimauku general store
    ......Billiards and hairdressing
    ......Bill Good’s pub
    ......The artisan
    ......The Coronation Hall / Waimauku War Memorial Hall
    ......St Martin’s, the little church with a big history
    ......Other denominations at St Martins
    ......The Waimauku Peoples’ Church
    ......The post office and the telephone exchanges
    ......Electric power
    ......Ernie Burns’ garage
    ......Cyril Tong’s bakehouse
    ......The great name change folly
    ......Gossip columns
    ......Victory bonds: Waimauku’s victory
    ......The doctor
    ......The RSA
    ......Bomber Galloway - a tragedy and a tribute
    ......The music makers
    ......Population size
    Chapter 9. The dairy factory
    Chapter 10. The evolution of Waimauku’s roads
    Chapter 11. Waimauku School
    Chapter 12. Sporting life
    Chapter 13. The Kaipara after the Treaty
    ......Wally Wikaira: a local identity in Waimauku
    Chapter 14. Farmers arriving in the 20th century
    ......Profile: The Wightmans, 1912
    ......Profile: The Houghtons, 1919
    ......Profile: The Robbs, 1937
    Chapter 15. Villages apart: Kumeu ascendant
    Chapter 16. Orchards and vineyards
    Chapter 17. Muriwai Beach
    ......Catherine Moore’s story, 1893
    ......Profile: Edwin Mitchelson. Muriwai, 1901
    ......The state of the Muriwai road
    ......Korekore pa
    ......Racing on the beach
    ......Fresh water, changing sheds and other luxuries
    ......Fishing at Muriwai Beach
    ......Muriwai House
    ......The Trans-Tasman cable
    ......Fighting in the dunes
    ......Sewage in the sand
    ......War games
    ......Surf life-saving
    ......The volunteer fire brigade
    ......Carnage on the beach, vehicles in the modern era
    ......Aftermath of the 2023 storm: Two tributes
    Chapter 18. Diary of a country kid
    Chapter 19. Endgame
    Notes