As I write this the hikoi continues its powerful advance on Wellington. Yesterday they reached Porirua. Almost there. In the background of the spectacle, the colourful theatre of protest, the laughter, the song and the determination there appears to be a precise level of organisation, timetables kept, people fed and accommodated and transported where required. This book describes similar levels of determination and organisation during wartime when the objective was support of the national war effort rather than to oppose a shabby bit of politicking by people I suspect have little understanding of the stories told in Te Hau Kāinga.

During World War II 16,000 Māori enlisted for service either overseas or in the other options for service at home. This involved about 14% of the Māori population. As the book explains, Māori leaders linked this involvement to the political gains they hoped to achieve, another element of Sir Apirana Ngata’s ‘price of citizenship.’ One of the ways that this was to happen was by an increase in Māori control over war time organisations involving Māori, the 28th Māori Battalion providing a model, Māori soldiers led by Māori officers. 

On the home front the main way of achieving this control was through the Māori War Effort Organisation (MWEO). Formed under the auspices of the MP for Northern Māori, Paraire Karaka Paikea, the organisation was tasked with coordinating Māori recruitment for service both here and overseas. By 1945 this organisation involved 398 tribal committees, each about ten strong. Therefore about 4000 Māori volunteers managed recruitment, manpower distribution, supported Māori who had moved to the cities and later provided assistance to returned Māori servicemen. It is this management of the Māori war effort by Māori which is the central theme of much of this book.

A good model of how this self management developed is recounted in the story of the Māori home guardsmen. The authors describe the recruitment of these men, over 10,000 of them and then the pressure from the recruits, Iwi leaders and Ngata himself to allow Māori control of these units. In the end the War Cabinet agreed to allow ‘...tribal leadership consistent with military efficiency.’  

While the military units engaged overseas get the most attention food production was probably Aotearoa New Zealand’s greatest contribution to World War II. Managing the increased volumes of food required in an environment where the most able men and women were serving overseas was a problem. As much of my archaeological work has been in the field of Māori gardening and food resources the chapters relating to both agricultural and traditional food production were of special interest. There is much here I have not seen elsewhere. 

One of the strengths of this book is the weaving of personal stories with official data and stories about food are particularly evocative. I particularly enjoyed Te Onehou Phillis’s description her family’s gathering ‘pūha, pikopiko and other forest delicacies’, catching eels, collecting pipi, tuangi and diving for kuku (mussels) and kina. She also describes the importance of preserving in the family’s wartime economy, brining beef, wild pork preserved in its own fat, titi, and home made jams and pickles. Wartime whānau self help.

Traditional food sources were exploited as part of the war effort. Agar used in both food preparation and medicinally had mostly come from Japan, new sources were required. Agar seaweed was a food item known to Māori and using traditional knowledge a local seaweed industry was started with Davis Gelatine Ltd calling for supplies in Māori language advertisements. Coastal communities swung into action and bundles of seaweed drying on fences became a common sight in many areas. As well traditional kai, tītī, mussels and other delicacies were gathered, sometimes even purchased, and sent to the men overseas. 

These are but a tiny sample of the wide range of activities covered by Te Hau Kāinga. As well as food production there were fund raising campaigns, urban hostels were opened, petitions gathered, foreign guests welcomed and a new translation of Te Paipera Tapu, the Bible was started under Māori direction, old stocks having been exhausted by the demands of war. 

All these activities for the duration of World War II were substantially under Māori control much to the dismay of some Pākehā who made accusations of improper procedures and misdirection of funds. At war’s end this self determination was taken away. Sound familiar? 

Throughout my reading of this book the hikoi has moved on and reached Wellington in huge numbers. Listening to the proponents of the bill redefining Te Tiriti one objection seems to be any increased control by Māori of aspects of the state which apply to them. There seems to be a fear that this creates special advantages for Māori. What this book describes is that for a few years in the 1940s Māori controlled many aspects of their lives effectively and served the needs of the state more efficiently than if they had been plugged in to the Pākehā mainstream. In the words of a placard carried by one of the Pākehā participants in the hikoi, historian Vincent O’Malley, ‘Read some bloody history’. This book is an important and timely addition to this history.

Reviewed by David Veart