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A song using the imagery of the mythical great fleet, sung during World War Two to encourage all Maori to work cooperatively in the war effort, and revived during the urban migration of the 1960s.

Tōia mai ngā waka e te iwi e Hoea hoea rā Aotea, Tainui, Kurahaupo Hoea hoea rā. Tōia mai nga waka e te iwi e Hoea hoea rā Matatua, Te Arawa, Tākitimu, Tokomaru Hoea hoea rā	Keep the boats moving everybody Keep pushing on. Aotea, Tainui, Kurahaupo Keep on sailing. Keep the canoes up to speed everbody Keep pushing on. Mataatua, Te Arawa, Takitimu, Tokomaru Keep pushing along.	"Keep the cooperative work going everybody Keep up the war effort. Aotea, Tainui and Kurahaupo tribes Keep on working together." "Keep the cooperative work going everybody Keep the work plan on schedule Mataatua, Te Arawa, Takitimu, and Tokomaru peoples Keep the work going along."
Later in the disruptive migration of 1960s, from farms to factories, from small close-knit rural communities to the vast state housing areas of Porirua and Otara, the song was modified to recall the myth of the voyage of the "Great Fleet," to enhance the idea of people from all the tribes being one unified culture, with the strength to withstand urban Pakeha pressures. Ngā waka e whitu e tau nei Hoea hoea rā Tainui, Te Arawa, Matatua Hoea hoea rā Tokomaru, Takitimu, Kurahaupo, Aotea ra, Nga waka enei hoea ra, E o tatou tupuna  Seven canoes headed this way. Sail on, sail on! Tainui, Te Arawa, Mataatua Sailing, ever sailing! Takitimu, Tokomaru, Kurahaupo And Aotea These are the seven canoes that sailed here with our ancestors.     "Maori from all seven tribes headed for Porirua. Driving for days. Tainui, Te Arawa, Mataatua Busload after busload! "Takitimu, Tokomaru, Kurahaupo And Aotea These are the seven tribes that settled here in Porirua with the traditions of our ancestors." Hoe literally means to push away with the hand, and has taken the meaning to paddle or row, and then the meaning of Hoea has broadened further to express voyaging as a crewman in a boat or canoe. Then Hoea ra was expanded even further as a metaphor, meaning to work together with maximum effort in a common and potentially life-threatening task. World War One Thus in 1917 composer Pariare Tomoana, in his song Hoia Ra Te Waka Nei/Come Where Duty Calls, gave the metaphorical meaning of East Coast Maori working together with maximum effort to assist the Ngati Porou soldiers fighting overseas. Haeremai e hine mä, Me nga taonga o te wä, He reo karanga i katoa, "Haeremai ki au" Hoea rä te waka nei. Hoea, hoea ki te pae Ma te poi e karawhiu E rähui i te pai.                 Come dear girls with the the gifts of the time (our action songs) calling to all, (who have come to this concert) "Come with me" (Come where our duty calls us) Sail this boat (support those in combat) Sail on towards the horizon (to the war's end) May the beat of the poi (our fundraising concert) keep up the morale (of both us and our boys) World War Two Taranaki and Waikato Maori, whose ancestors arrived on the Aotea and Tainui waka, had not been keen to help England in World War One, as English soldiers had invaded their settlements and stolen their lands some 60 years beforehand. So in 1943, during World War Two, Hoia Hoia Ra was written to urge Maori people of all tribes, including Aotea and Tainui iwi, to keep the war effort going. Tōia mai ngā waka e te iwi e Hoea hoea rā "Keep the cooperative work going everybody Keep up the war effort. The 1960s Urban Migration In 1955, for every 100 Maori living on rural marae there were 33 living in towns. By 1975, for every 100 Maori living on rural marae there were 300 in the towns. By the mid 1960s, there was a generation of young Maori who had been born in the cities. Many did not know about their tribal roots. Many urban Maori found it difficult to cope without the support of their extended family. And being cut off from traditional ways of life meant that the children of migrants lacked a sense of tribal and Maori identity. Te Ara Racial discrimination led to Maori clustering together, so that Porirua and Otara became Maori communities, but they were communities of Maori from different iwi, different waka, who had arrived together to make a new life in an alien place, just like the ancestors 700 years ago from Hawaiki Nui. And so the unifying story of this pan-tribal migration from Eastern Poynesia became popular. Modified versions of songs like Hoia Hoia Ra, and Hoia Ra Te Waka Nei were sung to recall this event, in order to build unifying bonds among those who had lost their tribal ties. Ngā waka e whitu e tau nei Hoea hoea rā  Seven canoes headed this way. Sailing, ever sailing!     People from all seven tribes headed into Otara. Busload after busload! Literal Interpretation Unfortunately we now live in a non-intellectual age where every story is taken literally. And this version of Hoea Hoea Ra was later used to perpetuate the erroneous belief that seven 20 metre long catamarans traveled to New Zealand together as one fleet. And that they were rowed the entire 5000 kms with paddles! By 1964, when Alan Armstrong featured performance details for these two songs in his book "Maori Games and Hakas," he gave this translation. Tōia mai ngā waka e te iwi e Hoea hoea rā Aotea, Tainui, Kurahaupo Hoea hoea rā Tōia mai nga waka e te iwi e Hoea hoea rā Mataatua, Te Arawa, Tākitimu Tokomaru hoea hoea rā Hoea rā te waka nei. Hoea, hoea ki te pae. Mā te poi e karawhiu Kia rere tika ai.       "Haul the canoes everybody Paddle, paddle back Aotea, Tainui, Kurahaupo Paddle, paddle back Haul the canoes everybody Paddle, paddle back Mataatua, Te Arawa, Takitimu Tokomaru paddle, paddle back Row the canoe. Row, row to the horizon. May the swing of the poi indicate the right direction." And he gives these words to introduce this medley... "Every tribe knows the canoe in which their ancestors came to New Zealand..... For weeks on end, the primitive canoes sailed the vast empty ocean, without charts, without navigating instruments and at the mercy of winds and currents. Day in, day out, paddling and always paddling." Of course the ocean wasn't empty - they followed some 100,000 whales and the countless millions of birds that migrated to New Zealand every summer. And they did have charts (grids with shells marking islands, and sticks marking currents and wave directions) and navigational instruments, and they knew the winds and currents well. Primitive canoes? Their sailing craft could go 50% faster than Captain Cook's ship. The replica voyaging waka of recent years have done the journey in under 30 days. However the myth was important in promoting unity among those Maori who were going through a traumatic period of social upheaval, so they could see themselves as a unified cultural group, with the strength to survive urbanisation. And thus Hoia Hoia Ra was modified to strengthen this myth, with this version appearing in the 1960s on a record by the Convairs, a Pakeha folk group. E whitu ngā waka e tau nei Hoea hoea rā Tainui, Te Arawa, Matatua Hoea hoea rā Tokomaru, Takitimu, Kurahaupo, Aotea ra, Nga waka enei hoea ra, E o tatou tupuna       Seven in number were the canoes that headed this way. Sail on, sail on! Tainui, Te Arawa, Mataatua Sailing, ever sailing! Takitimu, Tokomaru, Kurahaupo And Aotea These are the seven canoes that sailed here with our ancestors. Then other singers later changed the first line to the now popular "Ngā waka e whitu, e tau nei."   The Great Fleet Rewiti Wiki writes "In the early twentieth century there was a popular theory that Maori 'migrated' here in one swoop on seven waka. This song is about those waka. This song is considered quaint these days, but is a party song favourite, and taught in many schools. Notice the reference is made to paddle - this is now considered incorrect. Naturally these waka would have been whau-rua, "double hulled" voyaging waka. The names of the seven waka are: Tainui - Waikato tribes /central north island Te Arawa - Te Arawa tribes / Rotorua Mataatua - Eastern Bay of plenty tribes (Cook Islands geneologies have "Te Mata Atua - face of the god"). Tokomaru - Taranaki tribes / west coast, north island Takitimu - East Coast tribes / north island (Cook Islands refer to Takitumu and have it as a district) Kurahaupo - northern and some western tribes Aotea - Taranaki / West Coast." This is a fuller list of colonising waka, listed in order of their arrival. Waka Chief Harbour Descendant Tribes Māmari Rūānui Hokianga Ngapuhi, Te Rarawa, te Aupōuri, Ngati Kahu Ngātoki Nukutawhiti Hokianga Ngapuhi Māhūhū Rongomai Kaipara Ngati Whatua Tainui Hoturoa Kawhia Waikato, Ngati Maniapoto, Ngati Haua, Ngati Maru, Ngati Paoa, Ngati Raukawa, Ngati Toa, Ngaitai Te Arawa Tamatekapua Maketu Te Arawa, Ngati Tuwharetoa Tokomaru Whata Mohakatino River Ngati Tama, Ngati Mutunga, Ngati Rāhiri, Manukorihi, Puketapu, Te Atiawa, Ngati Maru Aotea Turi Aotea Harbour Ngati Ruanui, Ngarauru, Atihau Kurahaupō Maungaroa or Ruatea Whangaroa Taranaki, Atihau, Ngati Apa, Rangitāne, Muaupoko Mātātua Toroa Whakatane Ngati Awa, Tuhoe, Whakatohea, Whanau a Apanui Horouta Pawa Waiapu River Ngati Porou Tohora Paikea Gt Mercury Island Ngati Porou Takitimu Tamatea Waiau River Rongowhakāta, Ngati Kahungunu, Ngaitahu Sam Rerekura of Hokianga writes: "Kupe's high priest who came with him on his canoe "Matahorua" was called Te Papātara. He also made a second trip to the Hokianga with Nukutawhiti on the same canoe, re-adzed and given an extended name Ngatoki-matawhaorua." The Tune The song was probably written by Ngati Poneke members, since it was recorded by them in 1951. It has melodic phrases borrowed from the 1940 British wartime song "Bless 'em all," indicating it was written about the same time. Bless Em All - rangi of Ngā waka e whitu? Some lines of the tune of Hoea hoea ra are similar to lines in the tune of this popular World War Two song. It was adapted in 1940 by Jimmy Hughes and Frank Lake from a 19th century song of the British Army in India "**** Em All" that came to England in 1916 and was sung by the Royal Naval Air Service and then the Royal Air Force.(Mudcat Cafe) Bless all the sergeants and W.O. Ones Bless all the corp'rals and their blinking sons For we're saying good-bye to them all As back to the barracks we crawl You'll get no promotion this side of the ocean So cheer up my lads, Bless 'em all. There was also a Kiwi soldiers'version Oh they say there's a troopship just leaving Fiji Bound for New Zealand's shore. Heavily laden with time-expired men, Bound for the land they adore. There's many a soldier just finishing his time, There's many a mug signing on, You'll get no promotion this side of the ocean, So cheer up, my lads, **** 'em all. CHORUS: **** 'em all, - **** 'em all. The long and the short and the tall, **** all the sergeants and WO1's, **** all the corporals and their ****ing sons, For we're saying goodbye to them all, As up the cook's backside they crawl, You'll get no promotion this side of the ocean, So cheer up my lads, **** them all. Other Maori Songs - Kiwi Songs - Home Page published on web April 2006.        modified for narrow screens, Nov 2021