D   G     A        A7 
Oh Mum I love you,  
   D   D7
Yes I do
         G             A   A7        
Please wait for me mum
         D
I'll be home very soon
D7
I never knew
 
just how much you mean to me
     G(or E?)      E7
till now you're so many
           A                   A7
miles away across the sea


 G            A
Only God knows
             D
where or when
 
we'll meet again
                         D7
to hold you in my arms
        G
once more,
                  G7
to hear your voice
           D        G       D7
and to see your smi.....ile
 G             A7
God please do keep
       D
my mum...

" More than 60,000 NZ-born Maori now live in Australia."

In 2001 there were an estimated 62 thousand New Zealand-born Maori living in Australia, and another 41 thousand in Australia with at least one New Zealand-born Maori parent.

Elsewhere in the world, there were about another 18 thousand New Zealand-born Maori living overseas, (England 8000, Canada 1000, the USA 1000), and 12 thousand with at least one New Zealand-born Maori parent.

So in 2001 the total number of NZ-born Maori living overseas was about 80 thousand, and there were another 53 thousand overseas-born Maori with at least one New Zealand-born Maori parent.

Therefore the total number with NZ Maori ancestory living overseas was about 133 thousand.

And of the 550,000 Maori living in New Zealand in 2001, about 5,000 had been born overseas.

A Statistics New Zealand report says:

"Like New Zealanders generally, the Maori population is mobile. The highest number of Maori movers are those aged in their 20s.

" There are now about 4000 Australian-born Maori children in New Zealand."

The 1996 NZ Census recorded 9,600 Maori who had returned to New Zealand from overseas within the last five years. Most of these were aged under 40, and two-thirds had been living in Australia."

"Nearly 2,000 of those Maori enumerated in the 1996 Census who had been overseas in 1991 were children, and over 3,500 were in the 25-34 age group. This suggests that most were returning for family or economic reasons."

 

2007 TKI Report

The TKI study "Maori in Australia" said Australia has a Maori population estimated to be about 120,000. Maori believed they were pushed out of New Zealand by prejudice and bad experiences arising from social dysfunction, while they are pulled to Australia by whanau already living there, better weather and higher wages.

High-profile occupations for Maori include entertainment, shearing, mining, construction and security.

Queensland (31,000), New South Wales (30,000) and Western Australia (32,500) attracted most Maori.

Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand

Te Ara now has a good series of stories and pictures on Maori in Australia........
........ - 18 & 19th-century travellers. .. - Emigration to Australia.... - Ngati Kangaru... - Retaining the culture

Teka was from Ruatahuna in the Ureweras, and had a musical childhood. His mother played mouth organ and clarinet, and his father was a saxophonist with a bush band. After learning guitar and saxophone at woolshed dances with teenage bands, Teka moved to Sydney and began a six-year stand with the Maori Volcanics showband on the Japan and Pacific circuit. The 'Prince' title was adopted when Teka joined the Maori Troubadours: "In those days Elvis was the king of rock'n'roll so we thought up New Zealand's prince of entertainment."

In the 1970s Teka performed solo in Sydney and southeast Asian clubs, his extravagant stage wardrobe including rhinestone jackets and embroidered shirts cut for his one hundred and forty kilogram frame. His cabaret set was enlivened with downhome jokes: "Nat King Cole? - I'm his half-brother Charcoal." His over-sized choreography added to the fun, as Teka found later when he dieted down forty kilograms on medical advice: "I had no stomach to wiggle."

Missy joined the show after their marriage in 1976. Teka would appear on up to ten instruments- "Middle of the road," he said, "a couple reggae numbers, a couple country and western, rock'n'roll impressions and playing different instruments."

By 1981 he had returned to Tokomaru Bay "I began to feel homesick" and became a household name during the next year with E Ipo, and two albums with Teka originals including Real Love and Oh Mum. He appeared in films, including Came A Hot Friday, and Savage Islands in which he featured as a cannibal chief.

My thanks to Gordon Spittle for allowing the use of this material from his book Counting the Beat