The Land Girls

This book tells the story of New Zealand’s land girls during the Second World War. Drawing on the oral histories of 130 women and the written interviews of 90 others, it uncovers what has been a hidden history, overlooked in most surveys of New Zealand’s war experience.

The Women’s Land Service was formed to supply labour to keep New Zealand agriculture going during the War. From 1940, city girls from the age of seventeen were sent to assist on sheep, cattle, dairy, orchard and poultry properties. Many had the experience of arriving at a remote destination late at night and starting work the next morning as a farm-hand, when they had never been close to a sheep. They learned to ride horses, train and whistle up dogs, muster and shear sheep, plough and harvest crops, and to master all the myriad tasks of rural industries, often without electricity.

The experience dramatically changed lives. Some gave up university education, or left their careers and changed direction. Others were bitten by the land bug and never returned to city life. This book tells it all, with personal stories, diary entries, photographs, and reproductions of artworks by land girl artist, Juliet Peter.