267 Malacca Gr Linton Military Camp Palmerston Nth, aerial view 2018
Reason for the name
This street was named in honour of those New Zealand service personnel who served in Malacca. Malaysia. Most streets within NZDF Camps and Bases are named in honour of prominent people, battles, campaigns, ships, aircraft and places creating a rich history of our military service.
The New Zealand armed forces saw action in Malaysia throughout the 1950s and 1960s, first as part of the British Commonwealth response to the Malayan Emergency, and then in defence of Malaysia in the Indonesia–Malaysia confrontation.
Malacca was ceded to the British in the Anglo-Dutch Treaty of 1824 in exchange for Bencoolen on Sumatra. From 1824 to 1942, Malacca was under the rule of the British, first by the British East India Company and then as a crown colony. Due to dissatisfaction with British jurisdiction over Naning, Dol Said, a local chief and the East India Company had a war from 1831 to 1832, which resulted in a decisive British victory. It formed part of the Straits Settlements, together with Singapore and Penang. Malacca went briefly under the rule of Empire of Japan in 1942–1945 during World War II.
After the dissolution of this crown colony, Malacca and Penang became part of the Malayan Union on 1 April 1946, which later became the Federation of Malaya in 1 February 1948. The declaration of independence was made by the first Prime Minister of Malaya, Tunku Abdul Rahman, at Padang Pahlawan on 20 February 1956, which eventually led to the independence of Malaya on 31 August 1957. In 16 September 1963, Malaysia was formed with the merger of Malaya with Sabah, Sarawak and Singapore, and Malacca became part of it. On 15 April 1989, Malacca was declared a historical city. It was then also listed as UNESCO World Heritage Site since 7 July 2008.
Author: The Poppy Places Trust and Cherie Lawson
Terendak Military Camp, which is located on the Malacca - Masjid Tanah Road on the west coast, about 13 miles north of Malacca. The camp was built during the years 1957 - 1959 and was sited at Malacca in order to assist the economy of the state. It was a Commonwealth venture designed to house the 28th Commonwealth Infantry Brigade on their move from North Malaysia in 1959 - 1960.
Funds were provided by the Governments of Great Britain, Australia and New Zealand on a percentage basis. The first units of 28th Commonwealth Infantry Brigade moved into Terendak Camp in late 1959 and by mid-1960 the camp was fully occupied, although building carried on until 1964 when the hospital was completed.
Units of 28 Commonwealth Bde, as it became known were actively engaged in Borneo during the period of confrontation with Indonesia from 1963 until 1966 and some casualties from this campaign are buried in the cemetery. Additionally some Australian and New Zealand casualties from the Vietnamese war were flown to Terendak and buried there. The remainder of the graves are those of British and Commonwealth troops and their dependants who died of natural causes during the Brigade's occupation of the camp, plus the remains of some service personnel which were exhumed from outlying cemeteries and reburied in Terendak. The camp was vacated by 28 Comwel Bde. During the period November 1969 and February 1970 and was handed over to the Malaysian army on 28 March 1970 and is now occupied by a Malaysian Infantry Brigade.
Malayan Emergency 1948–1960
The Malayan Emergency was declared by the British government on 18 June 1948 after guerillas of the Malayan Races Liberation Army, the militant arm of the Malayan Communist Party killed three British rubber planters. New Zealand's first contribution came in 1949, when C-47 Dakotas of RNZAF No. 41 Squadron were attached to the Royal Air Force's Far East Air Force. The Dakotas were used to drop supplies to British and Malay forces engaging the MRLA, and one aircraft was stationed permanently in Kuala Lumpur to carry out this role, away from No. 41 Squadron's usual station in Hong Kong. By the time the New Zealand planes were withdrawn in December 1951, they had carried out 211 sorties, dropping 284,000 kilograms of supplies. From 1949 there were also several New Zealand Army officers serving on secondment to British units in Malaya. A further ten officers, along with fourteen non-commissioned officers arrived in January 1951 leading the 1st Battalion of the Fiji Infantry Regiment. Commanded initially by Lieutenant-Colonel R. A. Tinker the unit gained a high reputation for effectiveness in operations against the guerrillas. By the time it was withdrawn in 1956 about forty New Zealanders had served with it, and two had been accidentally killed. In 1954 a Royal New Zealand Navy frigate, HMNZS Pukaki, carried out a bombardment of a suspected guerilla camp, while operating with the Royal Navy's Far East Fleet – the first of a number of bombardments by RNZN ships over the next five years.
New Zealand became more directly involved in the Emergency in 1955, following its decision to contribute forces to the British Commonwealth Far East Strategic Reserve, the primary role of which was to deter communist aggression in South-East Asia, and to provide a capacity for the immediate implementation of defence plans in the event that deterrence failed. As a secondary role, the forces committed to the Reserve were permitted to take part in actions against the guerrillas. The initial New Zealand contribution to this Reserve was a Special Air Service squadron which, commanded by Major Frank Rennie, served with the British Special Air Service's 22nd Regiment. It numbered six officers and 127 men. Their operations consisted of seeking out the guerrillas in their jungle sanctuary. From April 1956 this squadron was deployed to the Fort Brooke area, bordering the states of Perak and Kelantan, and during 1957 it operated in Negri Sembilan, between the towns of Seremban, Kuala Pilah, and Tampin. In both locations the squadron was involved in successful operations eliminating the local MRLA groups. In all, this squadron spent two years on service in Malaya, and the soldiers spent an average of 17 months on jungle operations.
On 1 May 1955, the Royal New Zealand Air Force carried out its first operational strike mission since the Second World War and its first with jet aircraft, de Havilland Vampires of No. 14 Squadron. Between April 1955 and March 1958 the squadron was re-equipped with de Havilland Venoms and mounted 115 strike missions, which fell into two categories – 'Firedogs' (pre-planned bombing, strafing, and rocket attacks against suspected guerrilla targets) and 'Smash Hits' (immediate on-call strikes against opportunity targets in response to a guerilla raid or 'hot' information). The squadron was replaced in 1958 by No. 75 Squadron flying English Electric Canberras from its station in Tengah. The effectiveness of the air strikes against targets in the jungle was inevitably limited but they provided much valuable training experience to the New Zealand pilots. In July 1955 No. 41 Squadron returned to Malaya and resumed supply dropping operations in support of anti-guerrilla forces, this time using the highly effective Bristol Freighter aircraft.
From March 1958, the 1st Battalion of the New Zealand Regiment replaced the New Zealand SAS Squadron and as part of the 28th Commonwealth Infantry Brigade Group took part in operations designed to clear Perak of insurgents. It mounted a series of deep jungle patrols from Ipoh and Grik, in which it achieved great success. By the time the 2nd Battalion of the New Zealand Regiment arrived in late 1959, to replace the 1st Battalion, most of the Communist guerrillas had retreated across the border into southern Thailand and the Malayan government saw the security situation to be stable enough to declare the Emergency over on 31 July 1960. New Zealand soldiers would be periodically deployed to Border Security Areas as part of counter-insurgency measures over the next four years.
Of the 1,300 New Zealanders to serve in the Malayan Emergency between 1948 and 1964, fifteen lost their lives, including only three killed as a result of enemy action and the crew of a Bristol Freighter which flew into a mountain in 1956. For a New Zealand Army with little experience of jungle warfare, the Emergency marked a new departure and an important stage in the development of the New Zealand armed forces from a non-regular to a regular framework of organisation. Experience gained in Malaya helped the New Zealand armed forces when they returned to South-East Asia's jungles during the Indonesia–Malaysia confrontation and the Vietnam War.
