Hitara waha huka, upoka maro,
He tangata tohetohe kite riri, e!
Hinga atu, hinga mai i runga o Ruhia!
Ka wheru ona mahi! Hei! Aue, aue!

Tuhikitia ra, tuhapainga mai
Te rau o to patu ki runga upoko -
Hoatu, e tama - karia te kauae o
Te purari paka¹ nei Hitara e!

Kua rongo a Mahurini, kua tata tonu mai
A Te Hokowhitu Toa ki Roma e.
Hiki nuku, hiki rangi! Kore rawa he rerenga,
Ka wiri ona papa i te mataku e!

Hitler foaming at the mouth, pig-headed,
He keeps fighting on and on,
He fell and fell again up in Russia!
They cleaned him up, Hei! Aue, aue, aue!

Lift right up, lift high up
The blade of your axe above his head!
Come on son, break the jaw
Of this bloody bugger Hitler!

Mussolini has heard that they're very close
to Rome, the Maori Battalion!
Move on, move fast! He cannot escape,
His buttocks are shaking with fear!

Tune

The tune of this song is "Click Go the Shears."
Tuini Ngawai, the composer of Hitara Waha Huka, was a shearer as well as a teacher.

Out on the board the old shearer stands, Grasping his shears in his thin bony hands Fixed is his gaze on a bare-bellied yoe, Glory if he gets her, won't he make the ringer go. Click go the shears boys, click, click, click, Wide is his blow and his hands move quick, The ringer looks around and he's beaten by a blow, And curses the old snagger with the bare-bellied yoe.

¹Purari paka nei

Tuini Ngawai wrote the less offensive "Kaura mokai e" phrase here for the Ngati Porou schoolchildren to sing at the 1943 Ngarimu hui.

But the Maori Battalion's knew the ending to the well-known Ngati Porou haka protesting prohibition, Poropeihana, "Purari paka! Kaura mokai e!" "Bloody bugger, lowlife coward!" So they substitued the more potent curse.

History In 1940-41-42, thousands of New Zealanders were in North Africa fighting the armies of Germany and Italy, led by Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini. Hitler's plan had been to move east from Germany into Russia and then south to capture the Persian oil fields, while the Italian army moved south from Italy to North Africa and east to capture the Suez canal. Then using this seaway and the huge supplies of Persian oil, they would cross India and link up with the Japanese Army in Burma. But by 1943, when this song was being sung, the Italians had given up the fight and the German army that had come to North Africa to help them was in retreat. They had been pushed back to northern Italy near Rome by the British 8th Army which included the Maori Battalion in its front ranks.

Mussolini and Hitler anxiously keeping watch for the approaching Maori Battalion.

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This web page was published in November 2007
modified for narrow screens Nov 2021