NZ Defence Force ramps up efforts to find families of World War II Pacific coastwatchers

World War II coastwatcher William Kiri Cuthers, from Rarotonga, pictured with wife Jean Cuthers. Photo / Supplied

Families whose relatives were posted as World War II coastwatchers around the Pacific region are being urged to come forward, as New Zealand authorities work to make sure they are formally recognised.

In a rare move, the NZ Defence Force has released a list of names of Pacific men - mostly hailing from the Cook Islands - who were posted to stations around the coastwatching system that also included Samoa, Fiji, Tonga, Kiribati, Tokelau and Tuvalu.

NZDF heritage, commemorations and protocol advisor, Alex Scahill, has been researching the history of the coastwatchers and trawling through historical archives to find as many names as possible. But now the public is being asked for help.

“Some of the older people in the family might still have some recollection of what it was their fathers or grandfathers did,” he said.

“It’s sort of a challenge on two fronts, really. One of them is simply finding out who these coastwatchers were, to begin with, and then making a family connection today.”

The coastwatching system was set up in 1941 and acted as one of the first lines of defence for New Zealand during WWII.

It was made up of 58 stations around the South Pacific, with the agreement and support of the British colonial authorities in Fiji and Western Pacific, as well as the Tongan Government.

Deadly consequences of being a coastwatcher

By late 1941, New Zealand-controlled stations included 11 in the Cook Islands - which later increased to 14 - three in Tokelau, five in what was then Western Samoa and others in Kiribati.

Among the young men called on to take up the responsibility were teenagers as young as 15 and 16 years old, who were trained and put on remote islands with the key task of communicating back any sightings of what could be enemy ships or aircraft.

They also had to stay awake.

The Betio coastwatchers memorial to New Zealanders killed on the island in the Second World War, Tarawa, Kiribati. Photo / Ross Setford

Last year, the Government announced that formal and official recognition for the WWII service of Pacific Island coastwatchers would be given.

Defence Minister Peeni Henare said recognising the important role Pacific Island coastwatchers played in New Zealand’s early warning system in the region was “long overdue”.

“With Japanese advances into the Pacific into 1942, these stations became very dangerous places.”

The very real danger of the role of coastwatchers was shown when 17 New Zealand coastwatchers were captured and beheaded by Japanese forces on what is now Kiribati in October, 1942.

That same year, it was decided all NZ civilian coastwatchers should be attested in the Second NZ Expeditionary Force. However, no consideration was given to attesting civilians in the Cook Islands and other Pacific Island civilians outside of mainland New Zealand.

More than 80 years on, the NZDF has been working with the grandson of one of those young coastwatchers - Kiwi police inspector and academic researcher Tua’ipulotu Willie Cuthers, whose journey to find out more about his grandad ultimately helped to push the recognition of these unsung Pasifika heroes.

Cuthers’ grandfather, William Kiri Cuthers, was just 16 years old when he was put on a remote island as a coastwatcher near Rarotonga.

Do you recognise any of these names?

His was the first service plaque to be installed on his grave in the Cook Islands, followed by another plaque for radio operator Pu Banaba.

Banaba’s plaque was placed on the grave of his father, Sergeant Beni Banaba, who served during WWI in the Rarotonga Company of the Māori Contingent, NZEF.

The first unveiling of a plaque in New Zealand for a Cook Islands coastwatcher, Pu Banaba, took place in O’Neill’s Point Cemetery, Auckland, earlier this month. Photo / NZDF

Seven plaques are now being made for coastwatchers Rubena Rotati, Toka Temu, Puri Teariki, Tai-o-Tonga Henry, Tutu Ringaio QSM, Teatamira Uangakore and Tai Nicholas.

A number of other coastwatchers have been identified, but authorities have not been able to make contact with their respective families.

The names on that list are: Pamatatau, Ioaba Marsters, Rua Nia Rua, Jasper Tariu and Sir Tangaroa Tangaroa MBE.

Other names with no family point of contact or have newly been discovered are: Tutere Tupero, M. Tata, T. Tiro, T. Nena, Reginald G. Savage, E. Browne, N. Niarua, Enua Eteke, Tera Maurangi, Teruarau Teariki, Tanu Raina, Maka Pharaoh, Taramai Tuakana, Keu Vaea, Ngaputa Turua, Papehia Rere Wichman, Tutai Pirangi and Terii Toru.

An archival file includes two single names of coastwatchers who were based on the island of Fakaofu, in Tokelau: Afele and Fala.

“That list is not a complete list of all the coastwatchers, to begin with. Those are just the names that we have been able to identify so far,” Scahill said.

Their research suggests there were approximately 50 to 60 civilian coastwatchers active in the Cook Islands and a similar number in other Pacific countries.

“We’ve been going through a whole range of historical files that are held at Archives New Zealand; which has been a challenging process in that a lot of things just haven’t survived.

“Documents have been disposed of over the years and in a lot of instances, some of those details just haven’t been recorded, to begin with.”

Police inspector Tua'ipulotu Willie Cuthers, grandson of Cook Islands coastwatcher William Kiri Cuthers, at the plaque unveiling for coastwatcher Pu Banaba.

Scahill said among some of the photographs they had found was a group of Niuean coastwatchers, whose names had not been recorded.

“There’s quite possibly more material out there that’s being held by the families that we just don’t know about.”

Scahill said they would continue to work to find and identify as many coastwatchers and their respective descendants, as possible.

Tua’ipulotu Willie Cuthers called on coastwatcher families to make contact with the Defence Force.

“It’d be awesome for them to be able to commemorate their ancestor like everyone is starting to do now.”

Anyone with information about a Pacific coastwatcher or families wanting to make contact with the research team can email: historyenquiries@nzdf.mil.nz