Angela Wanhalla and Professor Lachy Paterson from the University of Otago are studying the often overlooked history of the impact of the Second World War on Maori society at home in New Zealand. With 3,600 Maori seeing active service on the battlefields of North Africa, Italy and elsewhere, a much bigger 'army' of 29,000 people (almost one-third of the total Maori population of the time) were making less heralded but no less valuable contributions to the war effort on the Home Front. From the importance of sport, to community and cultural activities, and economic opportunities, the war had a profound and long lasting impact on Maori history and experience.