> the general Australian perception is that the only thing NZ supplied were a couple of initials to make the acronym flow better.

If it's any consolation to you, hardly any Europeans I've met believes, nevermind knows that the Aussies and Kiwis fought in both world wars. 'Why would they want to do that?' is often the question I get if I can convince them.
When I went to France for the 75th military anniversary back in the nineties though, I'm happy to say that I met many friendly old local French farmers who knew all about the Australian and New Zealand involvement and had benefited directly from it.