'Kia Mau ai te Ora, te Pono me te Aroha ki te Ao Kotoa': The Māori First World War Memorial at Whanganui

Turnbull Library Record, Volume 46, 1 January 2014, Page 63

'Kia Mau ai te Ora, te Pono mete Aroha kite Ao Kotoa': The Māori First World War Memorial at Whanganui

EWAN MORRIS

On Anzac Day 1995, several hundred people marched through the streets of Whanganui, past Pakaitore/Moutoa Gardens, to the cenotaph at Queen's Park. 1 The march had been organised by the group 'One Wanganui', and marchers carried placards declaring 'one nation, one people'. The stated purpose of the march was to protest against the Maori occupation of Pakaitore, which had begun in February 1995. 2 March organisers claimed the occupation was preventing the Maori Anzac Day service from taking place at its usual location, the Maori war memorial in Moutoa Gardens. Maori participation in the march was described by the Wanganui Chronicle as 'slight'. Both Maori and non-Maori, however, turned out for the annual commemoration of the Maori war dead (relocated to the War Memorial Hall), as they had been doing for 70 years. Moreover, despite the claims of 'One Wanganui', some 80 people attended a ceremony at the Maori war memorial at Pakaitore, where wreaths and flowers were laid. 3

The marchers did not explain how they reconciled the idea of 'One Wanganui' with their apparent support for a commemoration service at a separate Maori war memorial. Even though Whanganui has a cenotaph and a memorial tower in remembrance of all the district's war dead, it also has a large memorial specifically to Maori who fought in the First World War. Perhaps uniquely, separate Maori Anzac Day services have taken place there since the memorial was built in 1925. How did this come about?

The Whanganui memorial is not the only memorial in New Zealand specifically commemorating Maori service in the First World War. 4 Most such memorials are located in areas where, as in Whanganui, local iwi had a history of fighting on the side of the Crown during the New Zealand Wars and provided significant numbers of recruits during the First World War. The tradition of 'loyalty' (as Pakeha called it) on the part of Maori from the lower reaches of the Whanganui River is very evident in Moutoa Gardens.

The name of the reserve itself commemorates the 1864 battle at Moutoa Island between lower-river Maori and upper-river adherents of the Pai Marire religion. This battle was also memorialised in the Moutoa monument, unveiled at Moutoa Gardens in 1865. While the Moutoa memorial, with its dedication to Maori who died 'in defence of law and order against fanaticism and barbarism', was an expression of Pakeha gratitude for Maori 'loyalty', another memorial erected at Pakaitore in 1912 was a Maori initiative. The memorial to Whanganui rangatira Taitoko Keepa Te Rangihiwinui (Major Kemp) focuses on his military service as an officer of the Crown, but it was first proposed by Whanganui Maori and seen to completion by Te Keepa's sister.

It must have seemed fitting, then, that in September 1917 a meeting was held at Moutoa Gardens prior to the departure of the latest reinforcements for the New Zealand (Maori) Pioneer Battalion. 'Beneath the shadow of the Major Kemp memorial which faces the distant scene of the historic Moutoa fight,' reported the Wanganui Chronicle, the gathering was one where 'loyalty was the keynote'. 5 Yet this group of recruits came from the upper river rather than the more traditionally 'loyal' lower river. They were probably the men of the 26th Maori Reinforcements, shown in a photograph taken in Whanganui before their departure. 6 The enlistment of men from the upper river and from Nga Rauru of South Taranaki, a tribe that had suffered confiscation of land as a result of the wars of the 1860 s, shows that recruitment did not entirely follow patterns set during the New Zealand Wars.

Throughout the First World War, Maori men from across the Whanganui district would enlist in the army, serving at Gallipoli and the Western Front. For most of the war, Maori soldiers served in formations with a distinct Maori identity: first the Native Contingent, then Maori platoons within the New Zealand Pioneer Battalion, and finally a separate New Zealand (Maori) Pioneer Battalion. There was a strong appeal to tribal pride in recruiting and an attempt to group Maori geographically within their units so that tribal allegiances could be maintained. 7 Meanwhile, Maori women in the Whanganui region raised funds to support their men. In Whanganui town, prominent local woman Pura Te Manihera McGregor was president of an active branch of the Lady Liverpool Maori Soldiers' Fund, while in nearby Waitotara the Ngarauru Maori Ladies' Patriotic Committee held regular shop days to raise money for the Lady Liverpool Fund. 8 The Maori Pioneer Battalion was the only battalion of the New Zealand Expeditionary Force to return to New Zealand as a complete unit. Arriving in Auckland in April 1919, the battalion was welcomed home at hui at several locations around the country. On 7 April, battalion members from the west coast of the North Island and from the South Island arrived in Whanganui to an enthusiastic civic welcome, followed by a hui at Putiki marae that lasted for nine days. 9

Speeches at the civic reception and at a subsequent dinner at Putiki emphasised pride in the achievements of Maori soldiers and unity between Maori and Pakeha. 10 The soldiers had 'taught the world to respect the name of Maori', said Mayor Charles Mackay, while the MP for Western Maori, Maui Pomare, said they had 'kept the best traditions of their race, and had made new ones for those who came after to respect and revere'. Whanganui MP W. A. Veitch referred back to the Battle of Moutoa: The Maori soldiers of today were bred of that warrior stock, and just as their forefathers saved Wanganui, they had helped to save the Empire and the civilisation of the world.' This sense of continuity with the past service of Whanganui Maori was also evident at Putiki, where photographs of the hui show the Moutoa flag, made by Pakeha women and gifted to Whanganui Maori in 1865 to commemorate the Battle of Moutoa, displayed prominently. 11

Speaking at the Putiki dinner, Major Peter Buck, the Ngati Mutunga doctor and anthropologist who served in the war, introduced a somewhat different note. He acknowledged that in the past Maori had 'fought the whites because of a just grievance', although the trouble had come about 'through a misunderstanding' and '[rjight through, the Maoris had played the game.' Now, however, Buck

continued, the two races had a mutual respect. Bonds of friendship had been 'cemented with blood and suffering', and the Maori soldiers now returning to civilian life 'would prove their reputation, and hold their own in the trials of peace.' 12 Speaking in June 1919 at a meeting to launch a Wanganui Maori Returned Soldiers' Union, Rangi Marumaru (himself a returned soldier) told the gathering that 'time has changed: you have been abroad. You have come in contact with all classes of the human race. In your travels you have seen wonders and you are now able to compare things.... By practical experience you have learnt much, for that reason much is expected of you.' 13 Not only had Maori soldiers seen other countries and met other peoples, they had also served alongside men, Maori and Pakeha, from other parts of New Zealand. Having had their horizons broadened, some returned 'unwilling to settle in the villages, to accept the political and economic dominance of the Pakeha and the local rule of their own elders." 4

If the soldiers returned changed by the experience of war, aspects of the society to which they returned remained stubbornly unchanged. Among Pakeha, genuine respect for Maori soldiers could co-exist with portrayal of Maori as goodnatured but dim, speaking pidgin English ('py korry!') for comic effect. 15 At times, returned soldiers encountered prejudice of a sharper kind. In May 1919, Captain Edward Renata Broughton wrote to the Wanganui Chronicle to complain that he and two other Maori returned soldiers had been 'rudely informed that no Maoris were served' at Whanganui's Rutland Hotel. Broughton, from Hawke's Bay but educated at Wanganui Collegiate, was a veteran of both the South African War and the Pioneer Battalion and would enlist again in the Australian Army during the Second World War. 16 He protested against the drawing of a colour line, particularly against returned soldiers, writing: 'We fought to give Europeans a fair deal, and we expect in return to get a fair deal from Europeans.' 17 Two months later, three more Maori returned soldiers were imprisoned as a result of a disturbance after one of them was refused admission to the Rutland. The policeman giving evidence for the prosecution commented that '[s]ince coming back from the front the conduct of some of the Maoris has been anything but good and they were almost a pest to the town.' 18

Some Maori soldiers became involved with the rise of the Ratana movement in the 1920 s. 19 T. W. Ratana's opposition to tribalism and his appeal to ordinary Maori as morehu, the scattered and dispossessed remnant of their people, caught the imagination of men who were disenchanted with the society to which they returned. Ratana surrounded himself with men who had served in the war: his own son, Haami Tokouru Ratana; his secretary, Pita Moko; and two of his key lieutenants, Eruera Tirikatene and Te Iwiora Tamaiparea. At the same time there were influential people, both Maori and Pakeha, who saw the Ratana movement

as a dangerous and disruptive force during the 1920 s. 20 Maori seem to have played little part in the debate over the form and location of Whanganui's two district war memorials, even though these memorials were supposed to represent all of the region's dead. A committee formed after the war voted to support a tower at Durie Hill, above the town, as Whanganui's war memorial, on the basis that it would be visible from all around. However, local women (especially mothers of soldiers who died in the war) objected that the Durie Hill memorial would be too inaccessible. They wanted a memorial in the town where the names of the dead could be inscribed and commemorative ceremonies could be held. In the end, two memorials were built. One, a cenotaph at Queen's Park that lists those who died in the war (including Maori soldiers), was unveiled on Armistice Day 1923 as the borough memorial. The Durie Hill tower opened in 1925 as the county memorial. 21

As Pakeha were preparing to unveil the Queen's Park memorial, another committee was making plans for a memorial to commemorate Whanganui's Maori soldiers. The memorial's origins lie in part with the unspent money of the local Lady Liverpool Maori Soldiers' Fund. 22 It was decided that this money should be used for a memorial to Maori participation in the war, and a Native War Memorial Committee was established to oversee the project. The committee initially intended to build a memorial cairn at Putiki, but because of the wide area from which Maori soldiers had come the committee decided the memorial should not be located at a marae. In November 1923, Herewini Mete Kingi, secretary of the committee, asked the Wanganui Borough Council if it would be willing to make a space available at Moutoa Gardens, which 'are of much historic interest not only to the Pakehas but also to the Maoris of the district.' 23 The council responded positively, and in June 1924 a specific area at Moutoa Gardens was set aside. 24

The selection of Moutoa Gardens as the site for the memorial attracted favourable comment. The Wanganui Chronicle noted that the Gardens had important historical associations for both Maori and Pakeha: it was the location where the 'sale' of Whanganui by Maori took place, had long been an important camping and meeting spot for Maori and was the site of a number of existing memorials. 'These same grounds, now scenes of peaceful beauty, at one time reverberated to the war hakas of gallant native soldiers', the Chronicle editorialised. 25 There was, however, some controversy over the specific location within the Gardens chosen for the memorial. In August 1924, after excavation had begun, a Wanganui Herald reporter commented that another location within the Gardens would be more suitable, a view shared by a number of councillors and other prominent citizens. 26

This criticism provoked a sharp rebuke from the memorial committee secretary, Herewini Mete Kingi. In a letter to the Herald he noted the co-operation the committee had received from the council and local Pakeha, but declared the

committee was 'disgusted' at the last-minute attempt to change the memorial's location. 'The pakehas possibly cannot understand the way the Maori looks at these things, but this cuts as a sharp knife. Don't these people want the Maoris to have a memorial, or what is the trouble!?]' Why all this fuss, he asked, over an area 'not large enough to be a burial plot were our boys to be buried there instead of lying in graves far from home'? 'The Maoris fought side by side with the Pakehas during the war that peace might prevail', he continued, 'and it makes us miserable to think that some pakehas, not content with the mess they have made with their own memorials, wish to start trouble over our memorial.' He concluded by stating the committee's confidence that the mayor and most councillors would ensure no indignity would be done to the Maori dead 'by poking round for the most obscure site in the Moutoa Gardens for the Native Memorial.' 27 The council assured the committee that there would be no interference with the location selected for the memorial. 28 However, the sensitivity to perceived Pakeha slights in Mete Kingi's letter provides a revealing counterpoint to the more usual emphasis in public rhetoric on unity between the races. Funding for the memorial came from a variety of sources. Just over £IOO came from remaining war funds, shellrock to construct the memorial was donated by the Whanganui Harbour Board, and the committee canvassed for subscriptions among local Maori and Pakeha. 29 In addition, the memorial committee approached central government. In December 1923, Herewini Mete Kingi wrote to government Minister Sir Maui Pomare asking if the Aotea Maori Land Board could contribute to the memorial. Mete Kingi explained that the memorial would 'place on record the fact of the Maoris being accepted for service abroad for the first time in the history of the Empire.' 30 In June 1924, the government approved a grant of £7O.

Mete Kingi wrote to Minister of Native Affairs J. G. Coates expressing the gratitude of the memorial committee, 'the majority of whom are not within the Ratana Movement'. Explaining the need for government funding, Mete Kingi wrote: 'The money should have been forthcoming from the district, and much more than is being asked seeing it is quite a small sum, but there has been a holding back, which probably has behind it the Ratana Movement.' 31 The Ratana movement increasingly faced allegations of disloyalty at this time, as it evolved from a purely religious movement still connected to the traditional churches into an independent church and Maori political movement. 32 By April 1925 (the same month in which the Whanganui Maori war memorial was unveiled), Ratana was forced to defend his own and his family's tradition of loyalty to King and Empire, citing, among other things, his son's service during the First World War. 33 Having provided funding for the memorial, the government asked that the proposed inscription be submitted for approval by the Native Affairs Minister. Herewini Mete Kingi explained that the committee had obtained two inscriptions,

one from Maui Pomare and one from Peter Buck, both of which were along the same lines. The committee put forward Buck's wording for consideration, and the Minister approved it, but asked that a reference to soldiers having died for 'Justice, Peace and Goodwill' be changed to 'Liberty, Justice and Goodwill', since 'peace' and 'goodwill' had the same meaning in the Minister's view. 34

Construction of the memorial by local firm Walpole and Patterson began in October 1924 and was completed by early January 19 2 5. 35 The central feature of the memorial is an obelisk of shellrock almost 10 metres high on a stepped base. Obelisks are one of the most common forms for New Zealand First World War memorials, although the Whanganui Maori memorial is unusually tall. According to Jock Phillips and Chris Maclean, the obelisk's soaring shape can suggest the triumph of spiritual over material values, or can be seen as 'a proud assertion of military success'. 36 Inscriptions on panels set into the obelisk suggest that pride in the achievements of Maori soldiers was a key message those behind the memorial's construction sought to convey.

Two panels in English and Maori state that the memorial was erected by the Maori people of the Whanganui district to commemorate the Great War, in which Maori soldiers for the first time 'went over-seas on active service as a complete military unit. On the battlefields of Gallipoli, France and Flanders, they added to the traditions of their race' (or, in Maori, 'i aranga i a ratou te ingoa o te iwi Maori', they raised high the name of the Maori people). Maori soldiers had fought alongside other British and colonial forces 'for God, King and Empire' ('mo te Atua, mo te Kingi mete Emepaea') and had 'made the supreme sacrifice that liberty, justice and goodwill might be preserved throughout the world' (' [i] mate kia mau ai te ora, te pono mete aroha kite ao katoa'). These panels pay general tribute to Maori who served in the war, not only those from the Whanganui district, and emphasise their contribution, as a distinct military unit ('tetahi ropu hoia Maori motuhake'), to the overall imperial war effort. 37

Another panel commemorates Maori soldiers from the Whanganui district who were killed in action or died of wounds received during the war. 38 Seventeen names are listed, accompanied by the words of Lawrence Binyon's 'For the Fallen': 'They shall not grow old as we that are left grow old'. 39 The Whanganui district, for the purpose of the memorial, was defined very broadly: those listed came from as far away as Taihape and Taupo, and two are also listed on the Arawa war memorial in Rotorua. Most, however, were from around Whanganui town, the communities of the upper river, or South Taranaki.

One of the men listed on the memorial is also commemorated in another way. In November 1924, the newspapers reported that Rima Wakarua and his wife had donated a statue of Rima's nephew, Herewini Whakarua, which was to be placed on top of the memorial. 40 Mr and Mrs Wakarua had commissioned the

statue for the family urupa (graveyard), but agreed to a suggestion ('which had a pakeha origin') that the statue should instead be placed on the war memorial, paying the cost of doing so themselves. 41 The finely detailed statue of Carrara marble, probably carved in Italy and shipped to New Zealand, shows Herewini wearing the 'lemon squeezer' hat of the New Zealand Expeditionary Force and holding a rifle. 42 A former Wanganui Collegiate student from Waitotara, Herewini enlisted as a private in September 1914, and was part of the first contingent of Maori to be sent overseas. He served at Gallipoli and on the Western Front and reached the rank of company Sergeant Major. In early January 1918 he received severe wounds from shellfire, from which he died on 13 January 1918. 43 In a story reported widely in New Zealand newspapers in 1918, it emerged that before Herewini went overseas, his father had pledged that if Herewini should die, he would take his son's place in the war. After learning of Herewini's death, his father did exactly that, enlisting on 15 February 1918. 44

Herewini's service through most of the war, cut short only by his death from combat wounds, his promotion to become a senior non-commissioned officer, and the dramatic story of his father's promise to take his place all made him an appropriate figure to appear on top of the memorial. Moreover, he was from a prominent South Taranaki family. The father who took his place in the war was the Reverend Te Iwiora Tamaiparea, a well-known Anglican clergyman who, on his return from overseas service, became a key figure in the early years of the Ratana movement. Te Iwiora's second wife (whom he married after the death of Herewini's mother) was T. W. Ratana's sister, and Te Iwiora baptised two of Ratana's children. Te Iwiora's brother Rima, who had raised Herewini, played a leading role in Taranaki Maori politics, and was also associated with the Ratana movement. 45 Ratana adherents may have gained some satisfaction from knowing that, despite the memorial committee's concern to distance itself from the movement, a scion of a Ratana family was atop the memorial.

The final element of the memorial was, like the statue, not part of the original design. On each corner of the memorial there is a low pillar with the name of one of the places where Maori soldiers served during the war: Egypt, Gallipoli, France and Belgium. It is not unusual for New Zealand war memorials to name the theatres of war where New Zealanders fought, but one feature of these pillars was unique among New Zealand memorials. 46 In July 1924 the New Zealand High Commissioner in London (and former wartime Minister of Defence) Sir James Allen wrote to the head of the Imperial War Graves Commission, Sir Fabian Ware. Allen explained that he had received a letter asking if he could obtain a small amount of earth from each of the battlefields to be placed in receptacles in the Whanganui Maori war memorial. While the request came from a private

citizen and not from the government, Allen continued, he would like to meet it if possible and wondered if the War Graves Commission could obtain the soil. 47 The Commission obliged and sent packages of soil to Allen, who forwarded them to New Zealand. The soil from Belgium was supplied directly by the Belgian Government, and a number of overseas newspapers reported the story of the provision of the Belgian soil for the memorial. 48 Placing the battlefield soil in the memorial associated it in a very direct way with the places where Maori soldiers served and died. Care was taken to ensure the soil was authenticated and that its deposit in the memorial was certified. 49

No changes to the memorial were made after 1925, although there was an intriguing proposal from the Native War Memorial Committee in 1929 to build 'symbolical carved gateways' at the entrances to Moutoa Gardens. 'From the point of view of Maori sentiment these things are very desirable, and no doubt if carried out the grounds would be greatly enhanced in beauty and interest', the committee believed. The committee would try 'to interest the River Maoris' in the proposal. The council responded positively, and the Board of Maori Arts in Rotorua was willing to help, but the proposal progressed no further, perhaps due to lack of funds. 50 Had the proposed gateways been put in place, the character of Moutoa Gardens would have changed significantly, and the importance of Pakaitore to Maori would have been much more apparent.

The memorial was unveiled on Anzac Day 1925. 51 The ceremony took place after the Anzac Day service at Cook's Gardens, and Returned Soldiers' Association members marched to Moutoa Gardens to participate in the unveiling. A tekoteko (carved figure), presented to the memorial committee by upriver Maori and painted red for the occasion, had been placed temporarily at the main entrance to the Gardens. 52 A photograph of the unveiling shows a large crowd surrounding the memorial, including many soldiers in lemon-squeezer hats. A large number of Maori had gathered, and as the Maori soldiers entered the gardens an 'element of pathos [was] produced by the mournful wailing of the Maori women'. 53 Three clergymen of different denominations (including Methodist Minister and Ratana sympathiser R. T. Haddon) conducted prayers and Bible readings, and the ceremony was marked by a 'display of religious fervour'.

Native Minister J. G. Coates sent his apologies and a message paying homage to 'the dead sons of the Maori race who unselfishly left these shores in obedience to the call of duty and Empire'. 54 Speaking on behalf of Whanganui Maori, Alex Takarangi remarked on the appropriateness of Moutoa Gardens as a location for the memorial, being 'so full of memories as to make it almost holy ground.' He paid tribute not only to the Maori soldiers but also to those Maori women who had provided comforts for the soldiers during the war, noting the origins of the memorial in the money remaining from the Lady Liverpool Fund. Sir Maui

Pomare then spoke on behalf of the government. 55 When war broke out, he said, Maori were not at first considered for active service, but 'the galvanic touch of battle stirred the fighting blood of ancestral chieftains in their veins, and they asked that they might be allowed to go to the firing line'. He followed this typical piece of martial race rhetoric by comparing the Maori soldiers favourably with Homeric warriors before concluding with a proverb that summed up the soldiers' message for today: 'Nga whakanenene kainga parea ake. Nga whetewhetengu whakawateangia'. 56 Translating this as 'the bickerings of the home set aside - the misunderstandings set right', Pomare said the soldiers' message was to make 'the glorious Empire' for which they fought and died a better and happier place for their children. After his speech, Pomare unveiled the memorial, which was then formally handed over to the City of Wanganui. 57 In its editorial for Anzac Day 1925, the Wanganui Chronicle commented that:

When the call came, the young Maoris of New Zealand proved themselves worthy sons of heroic ancestors, and co-partnership with their white comrades did more than anything else could possibly have done to tighten the bonds of common interest and loyalty which make New Zealanders one and indivisible. Though the memorial has been raised by the Native people of the district, and in that sense is peculiarly their own, it will be regarded as the common property of both races, in that it commemorates the spirit which fired the young men of the Dominion as a whole. 58

The ceremony itself had been marked by co-operation between Maori and Pakeha, and wreaths were placed at the memorial on behalf of Pakeha individuals and organisations. 59 After the unveiling, Maori returned soldiers expressed appreciation for the co-operation and comradeship shown by the Returned Soldiers' Association and hoped that the ceremony might help to bring the RSA and Maori soldiers closer together. For its part, the RSA had apparently invited Maori returned soldiers to take part in the Association's activities and to 'rekindle the friendships formed on Active Service.' 60 Yet the very fact that this invitation needed to be extended indicated that the RSA was a largely Pakeha institution and that, despite the talk of ties cemented by blood, Maori and Pakeha returned soldiers had drifted apart since the war.

There was one further ceremony at the memorial a month after the unveiling. On 20 May 1925, a large gathering watched Mayor Hope Gibbons place the Belgian soil in the memorial. An official photograph was taken to send to the Belgian Government. The photograph shows a serious-looking Mayor Gibbons placing the soil while assembled dignitaries stand on the memorial steps. White faces outnumber brown. Speaking on behalf of local Maori, Mr H. Hiroti said the

soil placed in the memorial represented 'not only the scenes of splendid military achievements, but, in a larger sense, the far away graves of those New Zealand soldiers - both pakeha and Maori - who fell in action during the Great War'. The placing within the memorial of soil from the battlefields where Maori served would 'create an element of the sanctity which prevails about the shrine of the unknown soldier'. 61 Sadly, however, the sanctity of the soil was not enough to prevent it from being stolen some years later. 62

In 1926 a separate Maori Anzac Day service was held at the memorial. Once again, the emphasis of the speakers was on the bonds between Maori and Pakeha, and a key symbol of friendship between the races, the Moutoa flag, was draped on the memorial. 63 Thereafter, the Maori Anzac Day service at Moutoa Gardens became an annual tradition, one described as unique to Whanganui. 64 After the Second World War there were more Maori dead to remember at these ceremonies. However, the names of those who died in later wars have never been added to the memorial, which remains a tribute specifically to the service of Maori in the First World War.

As Monty Soutar explains, Maori communities preserved the memory of their men who fought in the First World War, often in ways that were not readily apparent to Pakeha:

After the war, photographs of these men in their khaki uniforms were hung in homes and in wharenui (meeting houses) throughout the country. Stone monuments, dining halls and a church were built as memorials to those who served, and returned-soldier organisations and Anzac Day commemorations helped to keep memories alive. The names and places where relatives had fought or been killed were passed down to children. 65

Unlike some of these forms of commemoration, the Maori First World War memorial in Whanganui made a very public statement, in a place frequented by Maori and Pakeha, about Maori participation in the war. In both English and Maori, it expressed pride that, for the first time, a Maori unit had fought overseas 'for God, King and Empire'. If the memorial was also a place of sorrow for the whanau of those soldiers whose names are listed, it provided the consoling thought that they had died to preserve 'liberty, justice and goodwill ... throughout the world' - 'kia mau ai te ora, te pono mete aroha kite ao katoa'.

The reasons why individual Maori enlisted in the war were no doubt as varied as those of Pakeha. For Maori as a people, however, as for other non-white participants in the war, overseas service was an opportunity to show they could play a part on the world stage. 66 Having done so, they could also press for better recognition of their own rights, as citizens and under the Treaty of Waitangi, at

home. As Captain Broughton put it: 'We fought to give Europeans a fair deal, and we expect in return to get a fair deal from Europeans.' Behind the pride in the achievements of Maori soldiers there was also dissatisfaction that many Pakeha did not yet truly understand Maori or treat them as equals. For some Maori, this feeling found an outlet in the Ratana movement, but even those not within the Ratana movement, like Herewini Mete Kingi, could find themselves at times driven to vent their frustration at Pakeha inability to 'understand the way the Maori looks at these things'.

Whanganui's Maori First World War memorial was a public expression of pride and, implicitly, an assertion of the right of Maori to take their place as equals in postwar society. Initiated, seen to fruition and, to a significant extent, funded by Maori, it also received valuable support from local Pakeha, the council and central government. Rather than a symbol of 'One Wanganui', it could be seen as an example of cross-community collaboration in support of Maori aspirations. The respect of all parts of the community for the memorial is evident from the fact that, unlike other monuments at Pakaitore, it came through the 1995 occupation undamaged. 67

Natural forces and the passing of time have not been so kind, however: at the time of writing, the obelisk has a large crack and the whole monument is badly in need of conservation. Thanks to a Lottery grant, restoration of the memorial is under way and is due to be completed in time for the centenary of the Gallipoli landing. For the first time in 90 years, the statue of Herewini Whakarua has been taken down for conservation, sparking new interest in his story. 68 Almost 100 years after Herewini and other Maori from the Whanganui district went to war, the whole Whanganui community can take pride in a memorial to these Maori soldiers that should now stand for many more years to come.

ENDNOTES 1 I acknowledge with thanks the comments of Paul Diamond, Fiona Lincoln, Basil Keane and Virginia Hina on drafts of this article. In particular, Paul Diamond provided invaluable assistance, advice and encouragement during the research and writing. I would also like to thank the staff of the Alexander Research & Heritage Library in Whanganui, the Wanganui District Council Archives and the Whanganui Regional Museum Archives. 2 In this article I use the names Moutoa Gardens and Pakaitore interchangeably for the reserve bounded by Market Place, Bates Street and Taupo Quay, Whanganui. 3 This account is based on articles in clippings file WDC4O4/17, Wanganui District Council Archives (WDCA). See particularly Wanganui Chronicle, 26 April 1995, and Evening Standard, 25 April 1995. 4 Other Maori First World War memorials include St Mary's church and a memorial surmounted by a soldier statue at Tikitiki, East Cape; a memorial in Rotorua incorporating a statue of King George V and representations of incidents in Te Arawa history; a memorial rest room in Whakatane; a memorial with a soldier statue at Omahu marae, Hawke's Bay; a statue of Maori chaplain Rev. Henare Te Wainohu at Wairoa; and a memorial at Arowhenua, South Canterbury, that is strongly associated with the Ratana movement. 5 Wanganui Chronicle, 18 September 1917, p. 5.

6 One of these men would not return home: Wiremu Rangitauira of Koriniti died of disease in the UK, and his name appears on the Maori war memorial. 7 On Maori participation in the First World War generally, see James Cowan, The Maoris in the Great War: A History of the New Zealand Native Contingent and Pioneer Battalion (Auckland: Whitcombe & Tombs, 1926); Christopher Pugsley, Te Hokowhitu a Tu: The Maori Pioneer Battalion in the First World War (Auckland: Reed, 1995); P. S. O'Connor, 'The Recruitment of Maori Soldiers, 1914-1918', Political Science 19, no. 2 (1967): 48-83; Ashley Gould, 'Maori and the First World War', in lan McGibbon (ed.), The Oxford Companion to New Zealand Military History (Auckland: Oxford University Press, 2000), pp. 296-99. 8 On the Lady Liverpool Fund, see Tania Rei, 'Lady Liverpool's and Mrs Pomare's Maori Soldiers' Fund', in Anne Else (ed.), Women Together: A History of Women's Organisations in New Zealand/Nga Ropu Wahine o te Motu (Wellington: Historical Branch, Dept of Internal Affairs and Daphne Brasell Associates, 1993), pp. 23-25. On Pura McGregor see Michelle Horwood and Che Wilson, Te Ara Tapu: Sacred Journeys: Whanganui Regional Museum Taonga Maori Collection (Auckland: Random House NZ and Whanganui Regional Museum, 2008), pp. 13, 31. The work of the Ngarauru Maori Ladies' Patriotic Committee is referred to in Michael Condon, Waverley-Waitotara Returned Services' Association (Incorporated), 1920—1995 (Waverley: The Association, [1996]), p. 15.

9 The duration of the hui is reported in Wanganui Chronicle, 16 April 1919, p. 4. 10 See reports in Wanganui Chronicle, 8 April 1919, p. 7; Wanganui Herald, 8 April 1919, p. 9. 11 Horwood and Wilson, Te Ara Tapu, pp. 90-91. 12 Wanganui Chronicle, 8 April 1919, p. 7. 13 Wanganui Chronicle, 12 June 1919, p. 2. 14 J. McLeod Henderson, Ratana: The Origins and the Story of the Movement (Wellington: Polynesian Society, 1963), p. 17. The experiences of Maori soldiers on their return to New Zealand remain to be fully explored, but see Monty Soutar, 'Te Hokowhitu-a-Tu: What Did They Come Home To?', Turnbull Library Record 42 (2009): 34-47. 15 See, for example, J. C. Fussed, Corporal Tikitanu VC: A Tale of a Maori Brave at the War (Auckland: Worthington & Co., 1918). See also Steven Loveridge, '"Sentimental Equipment": New Zealand, the Great War and Cultural Mobilisation' (unpublished PhD thesis, Victoria University of Wellington, 2013), pp. 60-67; Keith Sinclair, A Destiny Apart: New Zealand's Search for National Identity (Wellington: Allen & Unwin in association with the Port Nicholson Press, 1986), p. 203.

16 Klaus Loewald, 'Broughton, Edward Renata (Muhunga) (1884-1955)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/broughton-edward-renata-muhunga-9595, accessed 28 October 2013. 17 Wanganui Chronicle, 24 May 1919, p. 5. The licensee of the Rutland said he was personally unaware of the incident but thought the problem had probably arisen from the group seeking admission to the private bar where, 'in accordance with the long-established custom of the house, they could not be served'. 18 Wanganui Chronicle, 10 July 1919, p. 5. Another alleged case of discrimination can be followed in letters to the Wanganui Chronicle, 13 October 1919, p. 4; 14 October 1919, p. 8; 15 October 1919, p. 4. A correspondent writing as 'A Digger' claimed that Maori had been deliberately excluded from a dance for returned soldiers at the Waitotara Public Hall. Members of the organising committee replied saying the dance was a private, invitation-only event and there had been no deliberate exclusion of Maori. 19 To date, the important role of disaffected returned soldiers in providing fertile ground for the reception of Ratana's spiritual and political messages has been asserted rather than demonstrated by historians: for example, Henderson, Ratana, p. 17; Michael King, 'Between Two Worlds', in Geoffrey W. Rice (ed.). The Oxford History of New Zealand, 2nd edn (Auckland: Oxford University Press, 1992), p. 298.

20 Richard S. Hill, State Authority, Indigenous Autonomy: Crown-Maori Relations in New Zealand/Aotearoa 1900-1950 (Wellington: Victoria University Press, 2004), pp. 141-46. For examples of Maori and Pakeha criticism of Ratana see Maui Pomare in Wanganui Herald, 27 April 1925, p. 7; editorial, Wanganui Chronicle, 20 January 1925, p. 4. 21 Jock Phillips, 'Wanganui: War Memorial Capital of the World', in Kynan Gentry and Gavin McLean (eds), Heartlands: New Zealand Historians Write About Places Where History Happened (Auckland: Penguin, 2006), p. 83. 22 An editorial in the Wanganui Chronicle, 13 January 1925, p. 4, provides a useful summary of the memorial's history up to that point. 23 Herewini Mete Kingi to Town Clerk, Wanganui Borough Council, 6 November 1923, file WDC 71:0:1923/662, WDCA. In 1924 Wanganui achieved city status, so the Borough Council became the Wanganui City Council. 24 Town Clerk to Mete Kingi, 6 June 1924, file WDC 71:0:1923/662, WDCA. 25 Wanganui Chronicle, 13 January 1925, p. 4. See also Wanganui Chronicle, 2 September 1924, p. 4; 15 December 1924, p. 10.

26 Wanganui Herald, 14 August 1924, p. 4; 22 August 1924, p. 4. 27 Wanganui Herald, 25 August 1924, p. 8. 28 Town Clerk to Mete Kingi, 30 September 1924, file WDC 71:0:1923/662, WDCA. 29 See the report of contributions to date in the Wanganui Herald, 1 April 1924, p. 7. 30 Mete Kingi to Pomare, 19 December 1923, file MAI 1327 1924/21, Archives New Zealand, Wellington (ANZW). 31 Mete Kingi to Minister of Maori Affairs, 24 June 1924, replying to Coates to Mete Kingi, 21 June 1924, file MAI 1237 1924/21, ANZW. The Wanganui Chronicle also hinted that Ratana influence had hindered fundraising: 'ln view of the committee's finances, and the fact that the interest of a considerable number of the natives was directed along another channel, the committee decided that it was necessary to adopt other means of finding the remaining money' (13 January 1925, p. 4).

32 R. Ngatata Love, 'Policies of Frustration: The Growth of Maori Politics, the Ratana/Labour Era' (PhD thesis, Victoria University of Wellington, 1977), pp. 224-42; Keith Newman, Ratana Revisited: An Unfinished Legacy (Auckland: Reed, 2006), chapters 6-8. 33 Wanganui Herald, 3 April 1925, p. 8; Te Whetu Marama ote Kotahitanga, 21 Maehe 1925, pp. 3-5. 34 Mete Kingi to Under Secretary of Native Affairs, 30 June 1924, and Under Secretary of Native Affairs to Mete Kingi, 11 July 1924, file MAI 1327 1924/21, ANZW. 35 Wanganui Chronicle, 3 October 1924, p. 4; 10 January 1925, p. 4. 36 Chris Maclean and Jock Phillips, The Sorrow and the Pride: New Zealand War Memorials (Wellington: GP Books, 1990), p. 97. 37 'Motuhake' means separated, and used in conjunction with 'mana' it can convey the idea of autonomy. Richard Benton, Alex Frame and Paul Meredith, Te Matapunenga: A Compendium of References to the Concepts and Institutions of Maori Customary Law (Wellington: Victoria University Press, 2013), p. 175. 38 One of those listed on the memorial was reported to have died of influenza after his return to New Zealand, but his primary cause of death was considered to be severe wounds received in the war, and the influenza was said to have simply hastened his death. The Wanganui Herald reported that the names proposed to be inscribed on the memorial were circulated 'among the principal tribesmen throughout the district' long before they were engraved. (2 April 1925, p. 4; 3 April 1925, p. 4).

39 Lawrence Binyon, 'For the Fallen' (1914). The fourth verse of Binyon's poem has been widely adopted as the 'Ode of Remembrance', and is used in Anzac Day services. The first line should correctly start 'They shall grow not old', but is commonly given as 'They shall not grow old', as on the Whanganui memorial. 40 Wanganui Chronicle, 1 November 1924, p. 4; Wanganui Herald, 7 November 1924, p. 4. Herewini's surname is sometimes spelled 'Wakarua', which is how it appears on the memorial. 41 Wanganui Chronicle, 13 January 1925, p. 4; Athol Kirk, History Now: The Best of Athol Kirk's Historical Articles which Have Appeared in the Wanganui Chronicle in the Past Two Decades (Wanganui: Wanganui Newspapers, 1994), p. 58. 42 According to the late Whanganui local historian Athol Kirk, the statue was commissioned in Italy. The source of this information, according to Kirk's notes, was a statement by 'E. Fisher', 2 September 1974 (envelope of material labelled 'Moutoa Gardens', Athol Kirk papers, Whanganui Regional Museum Archives). Most sculpted figures on New Zealand war memorials were made in Italy (Maclean and Phillips, p. 126). There is an alternative theory that the statue of Herewini Whakarua was made by Auckland stonemason Julius Jensen (Wanganui Chronicle ,l April 2013). However, it seems more likely that Jensen may have carved the inscriptions on the memorial.

43 Personnel file, AABK 18805 W 5557 0121018, ANZW (digitised file available through the Archives NZ Archway website, www.archway.archives.govt.nz, accessed 27 February 2014; entry on 'Wakarua Herewini', in Wanganui Collegiate School, In Memoriam, 1914-1918 (Wanganui: Wanganui Chronicle Co., printers, [1919]. 44 Hawera & Normanby Star, 26 February 1918, p. 4; personnel file, AABK 18805 W 5553 0111746, ANZW (digitised file available on the Archives NZ website). The story about Herewini and his father was also reported, for example, in the Dominion, 4 March 1918, p. 4. 45 Henderson, Ratana, pp. 23, 47; Newman, Ratana Revisited, pp. 93, 111, 180 (n. 12), 292; obituaries, Wanganui Chronicle, 20 October 1928, p. 6, and Auckland Star, 15 August 1936, p. 12; 'E Waka E', New Zealand Folk Song website, http://folksong.org.nz/e_waka_e/index.html, accessed 6 November 2013; information from Virginia Hina, a descendant of Te Iwiora Tamaiparea's sister. 46 Maclean and Phillips, p. 107. 47 Sir James Allen to Sir Fabian Ware, 18 July 1924, WG 698/3, Commonwealth War Graves Commission Archives (CWGCA), Maidenhead, United Kingdom. I am grateful to Andrew Featherston of the CWGCA for providing me with material from this file.

48 See newspaper clippings in WG 698/3, CWGCA. 49 The earth for the 'France' column was taken from the Maori war graves in the Ramparts Cemetery, Ypres (oddly, as Ypres is in Belgium), while that for the 'Belgium' column came from the base of the New Zealand war memorial at Messines. Wanganui Chronicle, 19 November 1924, p. 4; 22 May 1925, p. 2. See certification of the deposit of the Belgian soil in file WDC 71:0:1925/1597, WDCA. 50 Herewini Mete Kingi to Town Clerk, 29 May 1929; Town Clerk to Mete Kingi, 13 June 1929; R. M. Ritchie, Chairman, Native Memorial Committee, to Town Clerk, 14 June 1929; Ritchie to Town Clerk, 27 June 1929, in file WDC 72:0:413, WDCA; Wanganui Herald, 28 June 1929, p. 6. 51 Unsurprisingly, Anzac Day was the most common date for the unveiling of New Zealand First World War memorials. Maclean and Phillips, p. 109. 52 Wanganui Chronicle, 24 April 1925, p. 5; Wanganui Herald, 24 April 1925, p. 11. 53 The following description of the unveiling ceremony is based on the report in Wanganui Chronicle, 27 April 1925, p. 5.

54 Apologies were also received from Apirana Ngata and Peter Buck (who was to have been one of the speakers). 55 Pomare reused parts of this speech in his Preface to Cowan, The Maoris in the Great War, pp. ix-xii. 56 On martial race rhetoric and Maori service in the First World War, see Franchesca Walker, '"Descendants of a Warrior Race": The Maori Contingent, New Zealand Pioneer Battalion, and Martial Race Myth, 1914-1919', War & Society 31, no. 1 (2012): 1-21. 57 Documents relating to the formal handover of the memorial to the City can be found in WDC 71:0:1925/1597, WDCA. 58 Wanganui Chronicle, 27 April 1925, p. 4. 59 Wanganui Herald, 27 April 1925, p. 6. 60 Wanganui Herald, 29 April 1925, p. 6; and letter from Herewini Mete Kingi to the Secretary of the Returned Soldiers' Association, Wanganui, printed in Wanganui Herald, 12 May 1925, p. 9. 61 Wanganui Chronicle, 22 May 1925, p. 2.

62 The Belgian soil was stolen in 1938, probably by thieves who were after the valuable stamps on the envelope containing the soil (Evening Post, 2 November 1938, p. 11). It is not known when the other parcels were stolen. In 1975 the Whanganui Historical Society obtained more soil from the four battlefields, and a ceremony was held to place it in the memorial. Once again, however, the niches were broken into and the soil scattered. It has not been replaced. Kirk, History Now, p. 58; programme for the dedication service for the battlefield soil, 9 November 1975, in 'Moutoa Gardens' envelope, Athol Kirk papers, Whanganui Regional Museum Archive. 63 Wanganui Chronicle, 26 April 1926, p. 8. By this time the Moutoa flag was in a bad state of repair, so in 1929 a copy was made so it could be flown at Anzac Day ceremonies in Moutoa Gardens (R. M. Ritchie to Director, Dominion Museum, 19 January 1929 and 26 April 1929, in 'Moutoa Flag' accession file, Whanganui Regional Museum). 64 The uniqueness of Whanganui's separate Maori Anzac Day service is referred to in captions to photographs of the service in the supplement to the Auckland Weekly News, 3 May 1933, p. 42, and 2 May 1934, p. 42, viewed on Auckland Libraries' Heritage Images site www.aucklandcity.govt.nz/dbtw-wpd/heritageimages, accessed 22 February 2014; see also supplement to the Auckland Weekly News, 6 May 1936, p. 45.

65 Soutar, Te Hokowhitu-a-Tu', pp. 38-39. 66 See Santanu Das (ed.), Race, Empire and First World War Writing (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2011); Timothy C. Winegard, Indigenous Peoples of the British Dominions and the First World War (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2012). 67 The statue of former Premier John Ballance was toppled and the Moutoa monument covered in graffiti during the occupation. The memorial to Te Keepa also emerged undamaged. 68 'Saving Private Wakarua's Statue', Wanganui Chronicle, 16 March 2013; 'Restoration Timed for Gallipoli 2015', 1 April 2013; 'Memorial to WWI Soldiers to be Repaired', 23 May 2013, all viewed at www.nzherald.co.nz/ wanganui-chronide/news/headlines.cfm?cJd=lso3426, accessed 6 November 2013.