Abstract
Monty Soutar’s chapter investigates the development and results of three processes during 1917 that reveal the Maori situation in Aotearoa/New Zealand during and after the First World War. The first is the reaction of Maori leaders to the casualties of the mixed-race New Zealand Pioneer Battalion. In parallel, the Pioneers’ name change to the Maori Battalion reflected its new status as an almost wholly Maori organisation. What were the implications of these changes for those in the battalion, on recruitment, and on Maori participation in the Second World War? Lastly, in 1917 New Zealand’s Military Service Act was extended to include the conscription of Maori. This move had long-lasting consequences and led to the investigation of Maori grievances dating back to the nineteenth century.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Notes
- 1.
Allen to Herdman, 9 March 1917, ‘Conscription—Maoris under Military Service Act—Correspondence, AD1 Box 1046, 66/11, Archives New Zealand (ANZ).
- 2.
A.T. Ngata, ‘The Maori in the Second World War (1943)’, in Monty Soutar, Nga Tama Toa: The Price of Citizenship (Auckland: David Bateman Ltd, 2008), 412–13.
- 3.
‘New Zealand and the First World War’, Ministry for Culture and Heritage, accessed April 2016, https://nzhistory.govt.nz/war/first-world-war-overview/introduction.
- 4.
Manawatu Times, October 3, 1914, 5.
- 5.
Wanganui Chronicle, January 18, 1916, 6.
- 6.
New Zealand Parliamentary Debates (NZPD), vol. 175, June 1, 1916, 612, accessed November 10, 2017, https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.32106019788741;view=1up;seq=44; see also Maoriland Worker, June 7, 1916, 2, accessed November 10, 2017, https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/maoriland-worker/1916/6/7/2.
- 7.
Monty Soutar, ‘Te Hokowhitu-a-Tu: A Coming of Age?’, in New Zealand’s Great War: New Zealand, the Allies and the First World War, eds John Crawford and Ian McGibbon (Auckland: Exisle Publishing, 2007), 99–100.
- 8.
Ngata, ‘Maori in the Second World War’, 412–13.
- 9.
Godley to Allen, August 20, 1915 AD 10 20, 42/4, ANZ; Godley to Allen, February 15 1916, and Allen to Godley, March 6 1916, Allen1, M1/15 pt 2, ANZ.
- 10.
Sir Peter Buck to Eric Ramsden, 1946, Mssc. Buck, Box 2.06, Bishop Museum, Honolulu, Hawaii; Allen to Godley, January 4, 1916 and March 6 1916, Allen 1/1, M1/15, Pt 2,
- 11.
Allen to Godley, January 4, 1916, Allen 1/1, M1/15, Pt 2, ANZ.
- 12.
Godley to Allen, March 4, 1916, WA252 1 [3], ANZ.
- 13.
Allen to Godley, March 15, 1916, M1/15 pt 2, ANZ.
- 14.
‘The Battle of the Somme’, Ministry for Culture and Heritage, last modified July 31, 2014, http://www.nzhistory.net.nz/war/the-battle-of-the-somme.
- 15.
H. M. Buchanan to ADMS, April 20, 1916, ACIO WA97/3, 4, ANZ.
- 16.
Since 1868 the New Zealand Parliament had had four members elected from Maori electorates; in addition, during the First World War Sir James Carroll represented a general (European) seat.
- 17.
James Cowan, The Maoris in the Great War: A History of the New Zealand Native Contingent and Pioneer Battalion (Auckland: Whitcombe & Tombs, 1926), 179.
- 18.
Te Kopara, March 1917, 5–7; Poverty Bay Herald, February 28, 1917, 4; Otago Witness, April 25, 1917, 27; Gisborne Times, March 1, 1917, 5.
- 19.
Ibid.
- 20.
Gisborne Times, March 28, 1917, 6.
- 21.
Hastings Standard, August 22, 1917, 3; New Zealand Times, August 30, 1917, 6.
- 22.
New Zealand Times, August 30, 1917, 6.
- 23.
Te Ao Hou, (Winter 1954): 58.
- 24.
Gisborne Times, March 1, 1917, 4; 16/759 Pte Eruera Te Rauna and 19761 Pte Charlie Te Rauna, personnel files, ANZ. Monty Soutar, Hiruharama School Centennial 1895–1995 (Ruatoria: Hiruharama School Centennial Committee, 1995), 248.
- 25.
Gisborne Times, March 1, 1917, 6.
- 26.
Manawatu Herald, March 27, 1917, 2.
- 27.
Te Kopara, October 1917, 10–11.
- 28.
Known today as ‘Te ope tuatahi’, ‘The noble sacrifice’ was composed by Apirana Ngata as a tribute to all Maori soldiers, but especially Lieutenant Kohere. Poverty Bay Herald, June 22, 1917, 5. The Nineteenth Maori Reinforcements were mentioned in the third verse as they were leaving to undergo basic training at Narrow Neck camp. Although correctly ‘the Nineteenth Reinforcements’ would be translated as ‘Te ope tua tekau ma iwa’, one supposes Ngata shortened the Maori title to fit the rhythm. It was often sung in English at fundraising events to help Pakeha appreciate its sentiments. The song was so effective that it inspired a fresh wave of Maori volunteers and helped raise almost £8000 more for the MSF. Ngati Kahungunu (mainly from Wairoa under Corporal Turi Carroll) made up two-thirds of the 50-strong Twentieth Maori Reinforcements. A. T. Ngata and P. H. Tomoana, A Noble Sacrifice and Hoea Ra Te Waka Nei, (Wellington: NZ Free Lance, 1919); Evening Post, August 31, 1917, 2; Wairarapa Age, September 4, 1916, 4; Gisborne Times, April 9, 1919, 2; Christopher Pugsley, Te Hokowhitu-a-Tu: The Maori Pioneer Battalion in the First World War, (Auckland: Reed Publishing, 1995), 118–21; Cowan, Maoris in the Great War, 179.
Te ope tuatahi
Te ope tuarua
Te ope tuaiwa
No Aotearoa
No Mahaki rawa,
No Te Arawa,
No Te Wai-pounamu;
Na Hauiti koe,
No Te Tai-rawhiti,
No nga tai e wha.
Na Porourangi.
No Kahungunu.
Ko koutou ena
I haere ai Henare,
E haere ana au
E nga rau e rima,
Me to wiwi,
Ki runga o Wiwi,
Te Hokowhitu toa
I patu ki te pakanga
Ki reira au nei
A Tu-matau-enga.
Ki Paranihi ra ia.
E tangi ai.
I hinga ki Ihipa,
Ko wai he morehu
Me mihi kau atu
Ki Karipori ra ia.
Hei kawe korero
I te nuku o te whenua
E ngau nei te aroha,
Ki te iwi nui e,
Hei konei ra e,
Me te mamae.
E taukuri nei?
E te tau pumau
Our first recruits have come
The second lot has come
The nineteenth recruits
From the North Island
From the Mahaki tribe
From Te Arawa
From the South Island
From Hauiti
From the East Coast
We greet you warriors
From Porourangi.
From Kahungunu
Borne by all four tides,
Farewell, Henare! [Kohere],
I’m now departing
Our brave five hundred,
Who led your platoon,
To France,
The Maori Contingent
And fell while fighting
And there I’ll weep.
Of Tumatauenga [war god].
In the trench in France.
My own dear people.
Some fell in Egypt,
Is there a morehu [survivor]
I salute you
Some on Gallipoli.
To take your message
As I disappear
Oh how the pangs of pain
To your own nation,
Farewell my dearest,
Eat at our hearts.
In sorrow bowed?
My own true love.
(Translation in Poverty Bay Herald, June 22, 1917, 5).
- 29.
Gisborne Times, April 9, 1919, 2; Te Kopara, June 1917, 10; Wanganui Chronicle, April 12, 1916, Hawera & Normanby Star, April 18, 1916, 4, 7; Hawera & Normanby Star, April 18, 1916, 7; Taranaki Daily News, April 24, 1916, 4; Otago Witness, April 25, 1917, 27; Poverty Bay Herald, June 21, 1917, 6; Te Kopara, October 1917, 11.
- 30.
Te Kopara, June 1917, 10; Gisborne Times, March 19, 1917, 4. In Maori society, composing songs acknowledging deceased relatives or loved ones was a way to cope with loss. In times of crisis, iwi often throw up musical geniuses. The foremost composer during this period was Paraire Tomoana of Ngati Kahungunu. A musician, politician, sportsman and farmer, he worked closely with Apirana Ngata on Maori issues and the two men often collaborated with their musical compositions. Rather than following ‘classical waiata which used small note ranges, no harmony and irregular metre’, Tomoana wrote ‘words to fit harmonised tunes written in diatonic scales and generally deriving from European songs, the rhythms adapted to fit Maori idiom’. Angela Ballara and Ngatai Huata, ‘Tomoana, Paraire Henare’, first published in the Dictionary of New Zealand Biography, vol. 3, 1996, and updated online in July 2011. Te Ara—The Encyclopedia of New Zealand, accessed 6 August 2017, https://teara.govt.nz/en/biographies/3t38/tomoana-paraire-henare.
- 31.
Erueti Biddle et. al. to Hon. The Premier, September 3, 1914, MA-MLP 1 1913/67, NA Peter Clayworth, ‘A History of the Tuararangaia Blocks’, a report commissioned by the Waitangi Tribunal, May 2001, 104–7.
- 32.
Poverty Bay Herald, April 11, 1919, 3.
- 33.
Poverty Bay Herald, October 29, 1918, 3.
- 34.
Poverty Bay Herald, May 30, 1917; July 8, 11, 1917, 8; Poverty Bay Herald, October 29, 1918, 3; Hastings Standard, August 22, 1917, 3.
- 35.
NZPD, vol. 177, 13 July 1916, 73; Hastings Standard, March 11, 1920, 4; New Zealand Times, November 3, 1919, 6; M. P. K. Sorrenson, ed., Na To Hoa Aroha/From Your Dear Friend: The Correspondence between Sir Apirana Ngata and Sir Peter Buck, 1925–50, Volume One, (Auckland: Auckland University Press, 1986), 28.
- 36.
Ashley Gould, ‘Proof of Gratitude? Soldier Land Settlement in New Zealand After World War I’ (PhD thesis, Massey University, 1992), 324.
- 37.
Ibid., 325; Te Ao Hou, (Winter 1954): 58; Auckland Star, June 4, 1934, 14. The farms were Hoia Station (Hick’s Bay), Hoata Station (Tikitiki), and Hereheretau (near Wairoa). In 1925 Hoata was abandoned.
- 38.
Te Ao Hou, Winter 1954: 58; Gould, ‘Proof of Gratitude?’, 325.
- 39.
Nelson Evening Mail, October 5, 1916, 3; Bay of Plenty Times, July 16, 1917, 2.
- 40.
Manawatu Standard, October 12, 1916, 7.
- 41.
Nelson Evening Mail, October 5, 1916, 3; Bay of Plenty Times, July 16, 1917, 2. The Owhaoko gift was never used for the purpose for which it was given, nor was the land returned to its owners until the 1970s. See Martin Fisher and Bruce Stirling, ‘Taihape Inquiry District: Technical Research Programme: Sub-district block study—Northern aspect’, Report commissioned by the Crown Forestry Rental Trust, September 2012, 116, 135.
- 42.
NZ Herald, October 24, 1918, 4.
- 43.
Evening Post, September 16, 1920, 7.
- 44.
NZ Herald, February 12, 1919, 6.
- 45.
Thames Star, August 15, 1916, 4.
- 46.
Auckland Star, August 16, 1920, 4.
- 47.
Mark Derby, ‘Veterans’ assistance—Economic rehabilitation’, Te Ara—The Encyclopedia of New Zealand, accessed 25 September 25, 2017), http://www.TeAra.govt.nz/en/veterans-assistance/page-2.
- 48.
Gould, ‘Proof of Gratitude?’, 315.
- 49.
Bay of Plenty Times, February 24, 1920, 3.
- 50.
Auckland Star, July 10, 1923, 7.
- 51.
Bay of Plenty Times, February 24, 1920, 3.
- 52.
Gould, ‘Proof of Gratitude?’, 317.
- 53.
Ibid., 328.
- 54.
Ibid., 308, 311, 327–28; Ashley Gould, ‘From Taiaha to Ko: Repatriation and Land Settlement for Maori soldiers in New Zealand after the First World War’, War & Society (1993), 49–83.
- 55.
Cowan, Maoris in the Great War, 122–23.
- 56.
NZ Pioneer Battalion Diary, August 14, 17, 1917, ANZ.
- 57.
Paul Baker, King and Country Call: New Zealanders, Conscription and the Great War (Auckland: Auckland University Press, 1988), 89.
- 58.
King Country Chronicle, September 26, 1914, 5; Tom Roa, pers. comm., 29 April 2015.
- 59.
Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, July 18, 1916, 2.
- 60.
Ngata, ‘Maori in the Second World War’, 412–13.
- 61.
Allen to Herdman, March 9, 1917, ‘Conscription—Maoris under Military Service Act—Correspondence, AD1 Box 1046, 66/11, ANZ.
- 62.
Recruiting Board to Govt Statistician, May 19, 1917, and to Min Def, May 23, 1917, and Govt Statistician to Solicitor-Gen., June 18, 1917, ‘Conscription—Maoris under Military Service Act—Correspondence, AD1 Box 1046, 66/11, ANZ.
- 63.
Michael King, Te Puea (Auckland: Hodder & Stoughton, 1977), 85.
- 64.
Sec Recruiting Board to Govt Statistician, June 13, 1917, Military Service Act, 1916—Enrolling Maori Expeditionary Force Reserve, ANZ; NZ Gazette, June 26, 1917, 2509; NZ Gazette, July 2, 1917, 2621.
- 65.
Baker, King and Country Call, 219–20.
- 66.
P. S. O’Connor, ‘The Recruitment of Maori Soldiers, 1914–1918’, Political Science 19, no. 48 (1967): 81.
- 67.
King, Te Puea, 84.
- 68.
New Zealand Times, April 19, 1919, 9.
- 69.
Soutar, ‘Te Hokowhitu-a-Tu’, 104.
- 70.
New Zealand Herald, May 5, 1928, Supplement, 5.
- 71.
Ngata, ‘Maori in the Second World War’, 412–13.
Bibliography
Baker, Paul. King and Country Call: New Zealanders, Conscription and the Great War. Auckland: Auckland University Press, 1988.
Cowan, James. The Maoris in the Great War: A History of the New Zealand Native Contingent and Pioneer Battalion. Auckland: Whitcombe & Tombs, 1926.
Gould, Ashley. ‘Proof of Gratitude? Soldier Land Settlement in New Zealand After World War I’. PhD thesis, Massey University, 1992.
Gould, Ashley. ‘From Taiaha to Ko: Repatriation and Land Settlement for Maori Soldiers in New Zealand after the First World War’. War & Society (1993): 49–83.
King, Michael, Te Puea. Auckland: Hodder & Stoughton, 1977.
Ngata A. T., and P. H. Tomoana. A Noble Sacrifice and Hoea Ra Te Waka Nei. Wellington: NZ Free Lance, 1919.
Pugsley, Christopher. Te Hokowhitu-a-Tu: The Maori Pioneer Battalion in the First World War. Auckland: Reed Publishing, 1995.
Sorrenson, M. P. K., ed. Na To Hoa Aroha/From Your Dear Friend: The Correspondence between Sir Apirana Ngata and Sir Peter Buck, 1925–50, Volume I. Auckland: Auckland University Press, 1986.
Soutar, Monty. Hiruharama School Centennial 1895–1995. Ruatoria: Hiruharama School Centennial Committee, 1995, 248.
Soutar, Monty. ‘Te Hokowhitu-a-Tu: A Coming of Age?’. In New Zealand’s Great War: New Zealand, the Allies and the First World War edited by John Crawford and Ian McGibbon, 99–100. Auckland: Exisle Publishing, 2007.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2018 The Author(s)
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Soutar, M. (2018). The Maori War Effort at Home and Abroad in 1917. In: Abbenhuis, M., Atkinson, N., Baird, K., Romano, G. (eds) The Myriad Legacies of 1917. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-73685-3_4
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-73685-3_4
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-73684-6
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-73685-3
eBook Packages: HistoryHistory (R0)