Museum collecting stories from whānau of Māori Battalion B Company soldiers

Men from the 28th New Zealand (Maori) Battalion circa 29 April 1944 with a jeep at Hove Dump in the Cassino. Photographer George Robert Bull. Photo / Alexander Turnbull Library

Rotorua Museum is looking for the stories of those who fought in the B Company of the Māori Battalion in World War II.

Nearly 1000 men from around the Bay of Plenty, Rotorua and Taupō fought in B Company, but a lot of their stories remain unknown to the public.

Rotorua Lakes Council Kaitohu Whakahono Te Arawa partnership adviser Clark Pirika said the museum wants to update its exhibition of the Māori Battalion for when it reopens in 2025 after earthquake strengthening.

“This is a really good message, a really good story to put to not only their families who don’t know these stories, but to the rest of the community and the wider whānau whanui that make up the Māori Battalion.”

Pirika said it was important to have the means to tell these stories and pass them down to future generations.

“There are a lot of stories that are known with regards to tūpuna who fought overseas and then there are a lot of stories that are unknown.

“If we’re able to combine the two and have a record of that, so the descendants, the children, the mokopuna and the whakatupuranga to come have the stories available to them.”

Pirika said the museum also wanted to hear what whānau were doing while their loved ones fought in North Africa and Europe.

Joseph Meanata Junior holds a photo of his father Joseph Meanata, a Tongan/Maori who had to get permission from the Queen of Tonga to fight with B Company of the Maori Battalion. Photo / Dean Purcell

The museum team is looking for whānau members like Zorah Ngahuia Bidois, who recently registered to claim the medals of her uncle Whitiora (Tommy) Mita.

Mita was captured early in the war, spending several years imprisoned.

Bidois said despite everything that happened to him, he seemed unchanged by his experience.

“He was a lovely, gentle person. He was always a lot of fun, so if the war changed him, he never let it show.

“He didn’t talk about the war, nobody really did, but he used to say he felt like he cheated death because he was captured early while others fought and died.”

Bidois was a child at the time and remembers the aftermath of blackouts and rations. She wanted the stories passed down and remembered.

“It’s important our children and every generation after is reminded that their tūpuna fought so we could have a better life.

“So many whānau had multiple men go off to war; it was significant for our whānau and every man came back with their own stories. These stories all deserve to be retold and remembered.”

Pirika said the engagement process would take around three years and there were plans to meet with whānau in groups to record tūpuna history.

“The approach is to actually have one wānanga with family, with these whānau, if it’s doable, maybe having a cluster or group of families together at the marae, a place of their choosing, and recording their stories, and it has to be their stories.”