'Show and tell' to pave way for Māori Battalion book

Soldiers of the 28th Maori Battalion perform a haka at Maadi Camp in Egypt in 1941. Photo / file

A ''show and tell'' near Moerewa this weekend aims to lay the foundations for a book about the 28th Māori Battalion's A Company before the soldiers' stories are lost forever.

Rowena Tana said her mother Grace Davis — the eldest daughter of Lady Rose and Sir James Henare, the battalion's last commander — was always urging her children to ''hurry up and write that book'' before it was too late.

Davis died in 2013 but preparation for the book was now under way, Tana said.

Tomorrow anyone with stories or memorabilia to share about the battalion's famous A Company is invited to Otiria Marae for a ''show and tell'' called Hora Ka Taki. It will start with a powhiri at 10am.

Tana said the day would consist of a series of presentations by descendants of battalion members, followed by workshop sessions for people keen to contribute stories or taonga.
A writer had not yet been chosen and no publication date had been set.

Sir James Henare was the last commander of the 28th Māori Battalion. Photo / file

The show and tell, organised by the Taumarere branch of the 28th Māori Battalion Te Taitokerau Association, was a first step to gauge what material was available for inclusion in the book. The association's other branches were expected to follow suit with their own sessions.

''It's been a long time coming so we're getting ourselves organised,'' Tana said.

''Before she passed my mother was always saying, 'Hurry up and get it started'. In our own whānau I remember my grandfather's memorabilia, his hat, his boots, his maps — it's been dispersed around the family but as time goes on it will be lost, along with their stories.''

Saturday's speakers will include:
■ The surviving children of Lieutenant Colonel Sir James Henare and Lady Rose, Bernard, Phoebe and Charlotte;
■ The Harawira whānau, who will read from the diary of Te Kao-born Kahi Harawira, a soldier in World War I and the battalion's first padre in World War II;
■ The A Company Academy boys of Te Kāpehu Whetū in Whangārei will give a presentation about Kohukohu-born Lieutenant Colonel Fred Baker;
■ Helene Leaf will talk about Captain Harding Leaf from Whirinaki, who was killed in action in Crete and awarded the Military Cross;
■ Donna Awatere-Huata will speak about Lt Colonel Pita Awatere, whose maternal grandfather was from Ngāti Hine.

The book is not connected with a Māori Battalion Museum currently under construction at the Waitangi Treaty Grounds and due to open in February 2020.

Participants are requested to bring a koha or a plate for lunch.

The Māori Battalion was organised along tribal lines with the soldiers of A Company drawn from Ngāpuhi, Ngāti Whātua and other northern iwi. They were nicknamed the Gum Diggers.

Selwyn Clarke, the last surviving member of A Company, died in Kaitaia on Monday. He was aged 91.