Cap Badge - 11th Taranki Rifles Regiment, New Zealand (Other Ranks version) This badge was sold by Jim Purdy for $25.00 on e-Bay in the Spring/Summer of 2017. This badge was deemed irrelevant to the museum. The money was used to purchase relevant badges for the collection. The 11th (Taranaki Rifles) Regiment were formed in March 1911. The unit saw action at Gallipoli, Egypt and France as part of Wellington Regiment. When the NZEF was raised in 1914 each of the territorial force regiments raised a company for the NZEF battalion of their military district. The 11th Taranaki Regiment raised the 11th (Taranaki) Company of the Wellington Battalion. When the NZEF expanded in early 1916, the Wellington Battalion became the Wellington Regiment and with the raising of the 2nd Battalion, and later the 3rd, the companies were duplicated. Each company wore the badge of its parent TF Regiment. It formed part of 2 NZEF by supplying companies to the 19th, 22nd, 25th & 36th Battalions. It was amalgamated with the Wellington West Coast Regiment after WW II to form the Wellington West Coast & Taranaki Regiment which in turn became 5 RNZIR in 1964. This regiment is almost unique in that it is one of only two regiments in the Commonwealth that has its own country as one of its battle honours. In all cases the collar dog (both sides) was identical in design. The design of the Wellington (Taranaki) Rifles badge depicting the mountain, cottages and burned trees was adopted in 1911, and was based on photographs taken from Stratford, the home of the regiment’s commander, Colonel William Malone. It is New Zealand’s only military badge to incorporate a local geographic feature. Taranaki is a large area on the west coast of the North Island, centred around the cone-shaped volcano Mt Taranaki which is often covered in snow. Many rivers run down from the mountain, and the deep, fertile soils and moist climate are excellent for horticulture and dairy farming. There are surf beaches around the coast. The mountain was named by Captain James Cook, the explorer, after the Earl of Egmont but was renamed Mt Taranaki.