In 1943, 34 mules and 32 donkeys were hauling ammunition and water for Kiwi troops. Photo / 123rf
Kem Ormond takes a nostalgic look at Kiwi life with a rural twist. In this week’s Pastures Past, she’s found historical newspaper articles on donkeys and mules.
Donkeys, mules, horses, and even zebras share a family resemblance, but their genetic makeup is a fascinating mix of differences.
While donkeys and mules might not have the glamour of a sleek horse or the stripes of a zebra, they’ve been unsung heroes for centuries, quietly getting the job done with grit and grace.
A donkey is its own species, sturdy and dependable, with long ears, a short mane, and a tufted tail.
Its tough hooves are perfect for rocky terrain, and it’s a master of light draft work and carrying loads.
Donkeys reproduce within their species and have been loyal companions to humans for thousands of years.
A mule, on the other hand, is a hybrid born from a male donkey (jack) and a female horse (mare).
This unique pairing creates an animal that’s almost always sterile, but what it lacks in reproduction, it makes up for in resilience.
Mules combine the strength and size of a horse with the endurance and sure-footedness of a donkey.
Larger than donkeys, with those signature long ears, mules have earned their reputation as champions of heavy work and rugged travel.
Below is a selection of historical stories from the New Zealand Herald (1937 and 1939) and the Northern Advocate (1943).
New Zealand Herald, July 9, 1937
Entertaining children
Camels not permitted
Six donkeys will shortly be added to the animal population at the Auckland Zoo, not for exhibition purposes, but to provide juvenile visitors with rides about the grounds, and especially up the steep hill from the elephant house to the main gates.
The donkeys are being brought from Ponui Island, where they have been bred, and where they are at present being broken in.
The donkeys will no doubt provide considerable relief for Jamuna, the elephant, which for a considerable period has been the only animal at the zoo entrusted with carrying children on short joyrides.
According to the curator, Colonel E. R. Sawer, it was desired to import camels for entertaining in this way, but the necessary permits could not be obtained from the Department of Internal Affairs.
Fear of introducing stock diseases was the reason governing this decision.
Colonel Sawer hopes, however, that permission to import camels, either from Australia or India, may be granted at some future date.
New Zealand Herald, February 10, 1939
Unusual Auckland cargo
Arrivals from the Gulf
A cargo of an unusual type, even for the port of Auckland arrived here last evening when a shipment of 15 donkeys from Ponui Island was landed by the motor-vessel Baroona.
Numbers of donkeys abound in practically a wild state at Ponui, which is in the Tamaki Strait, near Waiheke Island, but they are only rarely sent to the mainland.
Numbers from a consignment about a year ago went to the Auckland Zoo as attractions for children.
The task of catching the donkeys invariably results in exciting exhibitions of wrestling at Ponui Island, as the animals, which become tame very quickly, are at first very restive.
The 15 donkeys brought by the Baroona had quietened by the time the vessel was berthed and were loaded into railway trucks for the journey to Woodville.
It is expected that two or three cargoes of the animals will be brought from Ponui in the near future, the exports resulting in the bulk of the donkeys being cleared from the island.
(Official N.Z.E.F. War Correspondent)
North of Susa, April 24.
Northern Advocate, May 4, 1943
Just a few miles behind the Eighth Army’s front line on the side of the track is a grey rocking horse with a painted saddle of ornate design.
Transport drivers slow down to read a sign that surmounts this wooden horse: “First New Zealand mule pack company.”
Tethered nearby, between tall cactus hedges among olive trees, is a motley collection of mules and donkeys which only a week or two ago were the long-suffering beasts of burden of local natives.
Now well fed, groomed, and equipped, they are ready, if needed, for transport of ammunition and stores to troops fighting their way through mountainous country toward Tunis.
The New Zealanders’ mule pack company is operated mostly by men of the army service corps and others from infantry battalions, many of them with training in pre-war days in the mounted rifles.
All have had experience with horses, but few with mules or donkeys.
Mule with Axis leanings
The first human casualty was an officer who was assisting in the loading of a mule into a truck when a vicious pair of heels sent him flying.
He was a hospital case but not seriously hurt.
Since then, there have been minor casualties, mostly from bites and abrasions but the animals for the most part have been remarkably docile.
Sturdy animals can carry useful loads—mules about 200 lbs. in addition to 50 lb. pack-saddle and donkeys about half that weight.
The 34 mules and 32 donkeys that constitute the platoon are capable of carrying 70,000 rounds of rifle ammunition and nearly 300 gallons of water.
In addition to water they could carry nearly 2500 grenades or 700 mines.
- Source: Papers Past