Troops boarding train at Trentham Camp

Trentham Camp was established as New Zealand’s national military training camp in October 1914, but – as depicted in this drawing – it was evacuated in July 1915 following a serious epidemic outbreak. Trentham was later renovated and extended, while a new national camp was opened at Featherston in January 1916. Both developments were overseen by Colonel E.H. Hiley, the general manager of New Zealand Railways and director of railway transport for the Territorial Force. Like Trentham, Featherston was located on the Wellington–Napier line, so had good rail connections to lower North Island regions and the main trunk line to Auckland.