National Broadcasting Service Mobile Units

A brief history of the Mobile Unit recordings

Sarah Johnston

In August 1940,  three New Zealand radio broadcasters set sail on an army troop ship from Wellington. They were bound for Egypt, where the New Zealand armed forces were part of the British Empire’s push to drive the German and Italian armies out of North Africa and the Middle East. With them was a mobile recording van, equipped to capture the voices and sounds of New Zealanders at war on lacquer discs, and send those recordings back for radio broadcasts on the other side of the world.

For the next five years, the National Broadcasting Service Mobile Unit recorded interviews and reports about the fighting and the day-to-day business of war, as well as thousands of simple messages home from servicemen – and a few women.  The unit also recorded in the Italy campaign and a second Mobile Unit travelled with New Zealanders fighting in the Pacific and into Japan during the British Commonwealth Occupation Force (1946-1948).

Today, the 1600 surviving Mobile Unit discs form part of the sound archives of Radio New Zealand, held by Ngā Taonga Sound & Vision. Work to digitise the discs and make them available online is on-going. Some of the recordings can be heard online already, while others may be requested via Ngā Taonga Sound & Vision's online catalogue.

Results

Displaying 1 - 20 of 712 records

10 20 50 100 500

Family name A-Z Family name Z-A First name A-Z First name Z-A Force War Service # Relevance

Record ID	Photo	Family name	First names	Force	Wars	Service #		Preliminary
112161		A'Court	Gordon Basil	Army	Jayforce, 1945-1948	661791
112160		Ackroyd	Reggie Ernest	Army	Jayforce, 1945-1948	618843
158580		Adams	Thomas George	Army	World War II, 1939-1945, Jayforce, 1945-1948	457353
C20143		Agnew	Allan Edward Manus	Army	World War II, 1939-1945	9105
C120015		Airey	Amy Elizabeth	Army	Jayforce, 1945-1948, Jayforce, 1945-1948	815353
112170		Akel	Frederick	Army	Jayforce, 1945-1948	432874
112175		Alderton	Lionel James	Army	Jayforce, 1945-1948	648769
C133990		Alexander	William Hunter	Army	World War I, 1914-1918, World War II, 1939-1945	357163, 6320
C17183		Allatt	Walter John	Air Force	World War II, 1939-1945	NZ401718, 401718
112180		Allen	Chalmers	Army	Jayforce, 1945-1948	277737
112188		Allo	Albert Vincent Francis	Army	Jayforce, 1945-1948	488181
192291		Anderson	Elizabeth Margaret	Air Force	World War II, 1939-1945	W5122
C134170		Andrew	Phillip Joseph	Army	World War II, 1939-1945	1177
C117909		Angus	Mary Margaret	Army	Jayforce, 1945-1948, Jayforce, 1945-1948	813744
112199		Annear	Charles William	Army	Jayforce, 1945-1948	632659
C134184		Appleton	Eric	Army	World War II, 1939-1945	3098
112207		Appleton	Frederick Graham	Army	Jayforce, 1945-1948	621536
C37078		Appleton	Ian Elliott	Army	World War II, 1939-1945	4430
135549		Armour	Kenneth Ian	Army	World War II, 1939-1945, Jayforce, 1945-1948	12455
166112		Armstrong	Douglas Arthur	Army	Jayforce, 1945-1948	639130

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About the author

In 2021, Sarah Johnston, recipient of funding from the Judith Binney Trust and Manatū Taonga Ministry for Culture and Heritage New Zealand History Research Fund, commenced work on providing insight into the content and significance of the National Broadcasting Service Mobile Units. 

Online Cenotaph is pleased to be collaborating with Sarah to help match the personnel records with the recordings held in Ngā Taonga Sound & Vision. Read more about the project at worldwarvoices.wordpress.com

Additional resources:

• Johnston, Sarah. (2023). "Voices of the Long Range Desert Group: the brains behind the S.A.S. “Rogue Heroes”. World War Voices: Recordings of New Zealanders at war, 1940-1945
• Johnston, Sarah. (2023). "With the boys overseas: How Homefront listeners shaped the work of Aotearoa New Zealand's first battlefront broadcasters. New Zealand Journal of Public History". New Zealand Journal of Public History 9, 33-58.
• Johnston, S. (2024, September 27). Her father’s voice: The travels of a wartime sound disc. World War Voices.
• Johnston, S. (2024, October 10). Her father’s voice: Connecting whānau through sound archives. Ngā Taonga Sound & Vision.
• Johnston, S. (2024). From Canada to New Zealand, to Egypt and back: The travels of a wartime sound disc. Australasian Sound Archive Journal, 46, 72–87.
• Johnston, S. (2021, January 30). Archival recordings of our WW2 troops in battle [Audio interview]. RNZ Saturday Morning.
• Johnston, S. (2021, April 30). World War voices with Sarah Johnston [Audio interview]. RNZ Te Ahi Kaa.

• Johnston, S. (2025, August 11). Voices of J Force: Recordings of New Zealanders in post-war Japan. Ngā Taonga Sound & Vision.

The development of the Online Cenotaph is an ongoing process; updates, new images and records are added weekly. In some cases, records have yet to be confirmed by Museum staff, and there could be mistakes or omissions in the information provided.