NEW  ZEALAND
FOLK * SONG

Te Ope Tuatahi
 Sir Apirana Ngata    1916
        Paraire Tomoana 1917 (verse 3)

This was the recruiting song of the First Maori Contingent in World
War One. They served in Egypt, Gallipoli, France and Belgium. 
  

Te ope tuatahi
No Aotearoa
No Te Wai-pounamu;
No nga tai e wha.

Ko koutou ena
E nga rau e rima,
Te Hokowhitu toa
A Tu-matau-enga:

I hinga ka Ihipa,
Ki Karipori ra ia.
E ngau nei te aroha,
Me te mamae.

The first contingent was
from throughout New Zealand,
including the South Island;
they were from the four tides.

You there
the five hundred
the brave Battalion
of angry-eyed Tu.

Some of you have fallen in Egypt,
some in Gallipoli.
Love gnaws within us
and pain also.

Te ope tuarua,
No Mahaki rawa,
Na Hauiti koe,
Na Porourangi:

I haere ai Hënare
Me tö wiwi,
I patu ki te pakanga,
Ki Para-nihi ra ia.

Ko wai he morehu
Hei kawe korero
Ki te iwi nui e,
E taukuri nei? 		The second echelon was
from around Gisborne,
from Tolaga Bay,
from the East Coast.

Farewell, O Henare, 1
and your 'clump of rushes' 2
who fell while fighting
in France.

Who will survive there
to bring the story back
to all the people
in sorrow bowed?
Te ope tua-iwa
No Te Arawa,
No Te Tai-rawhiti,
No Kahungunu.

E haere ana au
Ki runga o Wiwi
Ki reira au nei,
E tangi ai.

Me mihi kau atu
I te nuku o te whenua,
He konei ra e,
E te tau pumau.

The ninth contingent
is from near Rotorua,
from near Gisborne,
and from Hawkes Bay.

And now I am going
to the conflict of the Frenchmen 3
and there will I
weep.

I salute you as I disappear 4
out of sight of the land.
Goodbye
my own true love.

1 - 2nd-Lieut Henare Mokena Kohere, died of wounds after a night raid on the Somme, Sept 1916. See full details below.

2 - wiwi - Wiwi are clumps of rushes. There is a story of Te Rauparaha getting his warriors to wrap their cloaks around wiwi at a distance from an enemy pa before a dawn attack, to deceive the pa's guards.

3 - Wiwi - Frenchmen. When the Maoris went to France, they heard the French saying "Oui! Oui!" Yes! Yes! all the time.

4 - Kau atu has been translated as in vain, or remembering.
    But kau mai means to slowly come into sight, like a boat over the horizon, so kau atu must be the opposite, slowly fade away.

Te Hokowhitu a Tu

A Maori Battalion was raised and sailed from New Zealand on the 14 February 1915. They were known as Te Hokowhitu a Tu. Some doubts were held about the men's fighting ability and they had fewer numbers than a full infantry battalion, so they were designated as a pioneer battalion when they arrived in Egypt.

They landed at Anzac Cove on 3 July 1915 and soon proved their worth both as hard working and cunning engineers, as well as doughty fighters. They were soon committed to the fighting as a contingent and from a strength of 476 officers and men were reduced to 60 by August when they were rested on the Greek island of Lemnos.

On 20 February 1916, the remnants of the original Maori Contingent was combined with with Maori reinforcements and men of the Otago Mounted Rifles, plus 125 Niue Islanders and 45 Rarotongan, to form The New Zealand Pioneer Battalion.

The Pioneer Battalion reached France on 9 April 1916 and served on the Western Front for the rest of the war. They were an engineering force consisting of two Maori companies and two pakeha companies. The purpose of the battalion was to build roads, erect barbed wire entanglements and dig trenches, from which derived the name 'Diggers'. They also took part in raids and battles.

Deputy Prime Minister Joseph Ward visited
the Pioneer Battalion troops in France in 1918.

They were the only New Zealand battalion to return home as a complete unit, and when they reached New Zealand in March 1919 they received a rapturous welcome at cities, towns and maraes.

2,227 Maori and 458 Pacific Islanders served with the Pioneer Battalion.
336 died on active duty and 734 were wounded.


Pacific Island members of the NZ Pioneer
Battalion performing in France.             
This image is from the Great War Primary Documents Archive

 

2nd-Lieut Henare Mokena KOHERE

1880. Born on the East Cape at Te Araroa, where Apirana Ngata had also been born, 6 years previously. Grandson of Ngati Porou chief Mokena Kohere.
1895 to 1898. Attended Te Aute College, accomplished army cadet, haka leader & rugby player.
1901. Awarded bronze medal of Royal Humane Society for rescuing asailor from a wrecked ship.
1902. Attended the coronation of King Edward VII. Trained and led the Maori contingent in haka. Returned to family farm at Te Araroa.
1905. Married Ngarangi Turei.
1915. Enlisted as 2nd lieutenant in the Pioneer Battalion.
March 1916. Arrived in France, involved in trench repair and construction, and night raiding.

14 September 1916. Henare was wounded while taking part in one of these raids during the battle of the Somme. His conduct was fitting for a leader of mana. As he lay on a stretcher in his dugout, he appeared comfortable and happy. In one hand he held a lighted cigarette; the other had been smashed by a shell. He expected to die and paid his small debts and trifling mess accounts. Peter Buck, a major in the battalion, visited him, asking 'Kei te pehea koe, Kohere?' How are you? 'Ka nui te kino' Things are very bad, Kohere replied. He died of his wounds two days later. Full biography at DNZB

Cowan's 1926 translation

The following version was originally printed back in 1926, in James Cowan's book The Maoris in the Great War.

E te ope tuatahi
No Aotearoa
No Te Wai-pounamu
No nga tai e wha.
Ko koutou ena
E nga rau e rima,
Ko te Hokowhitu toa
A Tu-mata-uenga:
I hinga ka Ihipa,
Ki Karipori ra ia;
E ngau nei te aroha,
Me te mamae.

  We greet our first band
From Aotearoa,
From the Island of Greenstone:
We sing of our warriors,
Our gallant Five Hundred,
The chosen heroes
Of Tu-mata-uenga,
The Angry-Eyed War God.
Some fell in Egypt,
Some on Gallipoli;
Now pangs of sharp sorrow
Our sad hearts are piercing.
E te ope tuarua,
No Mahaki rawa,
Na Hauiti koe,
Na Porourangi:
I haere ai Henare
Me to iwi,
I patu ki te pakanga,
Ki Paranihi ra ia.
Ko wai he morehu
Hei kawe korero
Ki te iwi nui e,
E taukuri nei?

  From the Coast of the Sunrise,
Came our Second Contingent,
The men of Mahaki;
Men of Tolaga Bay,
Warriors of Ngati Porou.
Farewell, O Henare,*
Who led your company
And fell in war's thunder
Nobly fighting in France.
And who will survive there
To take our last message
To our loved people
In dark sorrow bowed?
E te ope tuaiwa
No Te Arawa,
No Te Tai-rawhiti,
No Kahungunu.
E haere ana 'hau
Ki runga o Wiwi
Ki reira 'hau nei,
E tangi ai.
Me mihi kau atu
I te nuku o te whenua,
He konei ra e,
E te tau pumau.		   Our Ninth fighting Contingent
Comes from Te Arawa,
From the Coast of the Sunrise
From Kahungunu's land.
And now I am leaving
For France's red war fields.
There I'll remember;
My heart will send greetings
O'er far land and ocean
To my own constant love.

Other Maori songs of the overseas wars

Tipirere: 1914 "It's a long way to Tipperary..."

Pokarekare Ana: popular with Maori solders in 1915-17 preparing to go to WWI.

Hoea Ra Te Waka Nei: a heart-breaking cry for financial support for the men in the trenches in France in 1917.

E Pari Ra: 1918 tangi for Maori solders lost in battle during WWI.

Karangatia  Rä: sung in 1919 to the returning men of the Maori Battalion after WWI.


Arohaina Mai: a 1940 song of farewell for the men of C Company (Ngati Porou). Tuini Ngati's greatest song.

E te Hokowhitu-a-Tü: a 1943 song remembering the Maori Battalion who were away fighting in North Africa and Italy.

Tama Ngäkau Märie: a graveside hymn sung many, many times by men of the 28th Maori Battalion.

Tomo mai (Hoki mai) e tama ma: composed in Ruatoria in 1946 to welcome home their soldiers of the 28th Maori Battalion.

Rolling Wheels:written by members of the Maori Battalion as they rolled across Nth Africa, and added to, as they fought their way up Italy. 

Blue Smoke (Kohu Auahi): written during WWII and internationally popular in 1948.

Maori Songs - Kiwi Songs - Home

Published on web 1 April 2005, Kohere biography added 10 May 2005