Source: Matt Stewart, 18 Jul 2014; Dominion Post, Wgtn.

Trentham Military Camp recruits were bushcutters, builders, farmers and accountants - but in a few frenetic weeks they were all turned into soldiers and packed off to the front lines of World War I. About 55,000 recruits passed through Upper Hutt's Trentham Military Camp as they prepared for combat during World War I. The significance of the Trentham camp, still today plays an integral role in the life of Upper Hutt.
Here the Anzacs walked, talked and laughed . . . They marched along the neighbouring roads, survived the mud, endured the sickness and ate the notorious food," It was the place where thousands of civilians became soldiers, and where men passed from training into active service. For many, it was their last living memory of life in New Zealand. For those who survived, it embodies the sadness and grief of young lives cut short, and dreams left unfulfilled."he Trentham camp was a city made up of bell tents. It was originally planned to hold 2000 men but constant waves of recruits boosted it to 7000 by May 1915, meaning recruits were forced to sleep eight to 12 men in a tent, in a spoke-like formation with their feet at the centre . They experienced the cold, wet and mud, caused by a lack of paved streets or proper drainage.
Trooper John Watson summed it up in a letter from June 1915: "The place is in a great state of mud, but I suppose you can imagine what it is like with 7000 men tramping about every day . . . things have been very disagreeable with mud and slush. It has playing the deuce with the men's health too and almost everyone has been more or less affected with colds and sore throats.