Tūātapere & Districts History - WW2 Propaganda Poster to Raise War Funds

Shared by Central & Western Murihiku Southland Archive

Tūātapere & Districts History - WW2 Propaganda Poster to Raise War Funds This WW2 Propaganda Poster was found under the floorboards of an old house while renovating. It is now rather rare and even Te Papa Museum do not have a copy, so we can be rightly proud that we have one in Tūātapere. We were very privileged to have the opportunity to take a high resolution copy of this piece of history, that many people may not know about. The wording of the poster is as below: "IF The Plane that dropped this leaflet had been an enemy one, possibly your home would by now have been bombed and in flames, or your children machine-gunned on the roads and streets. Your protection against these horrors is the men in the Army, Navy and Air Force. Give us the tools to finish the job. Keep Us Flying. 3rd LIBERTY WAR LOAN". BACKGROUND: In case you did not know, yes, even Aotearoa NZ had propaganda posters and leaflet drops during WW2! One of the rarer ones is seen above. The 3rd Liberty Loan was issued from 8 June to 10 July 1943 by the New Zealand government. This was an investment offered to the public, by the National War Savings Office to raise money for the war. Seen here is some of the propaganda they used to entice people to "invest". Leaflet drops such as this were meant to appeal to New Zealanders' sense of patriotism and sacrifice, by calling on them to save their country by investing in a Liberty Loan. In some of the more colourful posters we have seen which targeted other demographics across the country, featured women, as these had entered the workforce in considerable numbers, so were also 'fair game'. Te Papa information on some of their advertising posters for the 3rd Liberty Loan, say this, "Such appeals for funds kept the stock exchanges busy during the war years, and New Zealand spending on the war was almost half covered by such loans raised within the country." LIBERTY LOANS "Seven loans were floated during the war, with the aim of raising a total of £145 million. These schemes were huge and dramatic, held only once or twice a year, and generally attracted larger investments from business firms, public bodies, and wealthier individuals. A key intention of the loans was to absorb New Zealanders' private savings, which had increased owing to the paucity of goods and services (often diverted to the war effort), and thereby offsetting inflation. The emotional premise of the loans was to conscript wealth in the same spirit as the conscription of people, essentially making ordinary citizens shareholders in the war effort. Even though it was acknowledged that money could never equal the loss of life or injury to soldiers, the risks were to be shared between soldiers and civilians. Each group would then be rewarded with pay or interest, respectively," also from Te Papa Museum's information on the Liberty Loan Posters they have got. Hopefully this entry will be added to as more information comes to hand. If you or anyone you know has any more information or photos to share or accounts of Propaganda Leaflet Drops or Liberty Loans during the WW2 years, please do share this with us in the comments section. You can do this by making a comment in the space provided under the image page. Or you can make contact with us as per the archive front page.