I ēnei rā e kitea nei ngā mahi hei patu i te ngārara hou, i te Covid-19.  I ēnei wā, ka āraia ō tatou mata, ā, hei take kōrero tēnei momo kākahu.  Kei te hangaia aua mea e ētahi.  Kua hurahina ngā pūrere-tuitui, ā, kua haere ngā tini tāngata ki ngā toa-tuitui hoko ai i ngā rauemi e hiahiatia ana.  I ētahi wā, kua whakamahia ngā papanga hangarua me ngā whakamaumautanga rerekē; he kinipepa, he waea whakawiri rānei hei pupuri ihu.  Pērā me te kīanga Pākehā, “waste not, want not”, nē?

Kei te ipurangi me te pae pāpāho pāpori ngā tini whakaaro, tohutohu, tauira hoki, ā, kua mārama nei, tokomaha ngā tāngata o te ao e mahi pēnei ana. Ahakoa he pakupaku te ārai mata, he mea whakahirahira, hei whakamanawa, hei whakaahuru hoki i te ngākau i te wā o te urutā e whakapōuritia nei te ao.  

I āhua rite hoki te ngākau me te kaha o ngā tāngata o te hau kāinga i te wā o te Pakanga Tuarua; ka mahi tahi ngā rōpū ki te āwhina i ngā mahi pakanga. Ahakoa matatau, ahakoa ninipa, ka tahuri rātou ki te hanga i ngā tini taonga, he mea tuitui, he mea nitiniti hoki; nā ngā kōpakatanga o te wā pakanga i āhua uaua ai ēnei mahi.  Engari, he mea whakahihiko ngā rōpū nei i runga i te ngākau aroha ki ngā tāngata e pāngia ana e te whawhai.

I taua wā, ka aro te iwi ki ngā niupepa kia kitea ai ngā mahi a tāngata kē.  I te nuinga o te wā, kāore e āta kōrerotia i roto i ngā tuhinga nei.  Nā te whānui me ngā raupanga o te pakanga, ka whakaarohia pea, ehara ngā mahi a te hau kāinga i te whakahirahira.  Nā reira, he poto ngā rīpoata, kāore i rīpoatatia rānei.  Engari ka taea te kī, kāore e kitea i roto i ngā niupepa te nui o ngā mahi me te kaha o te aroha o ēnei rōpū.  Engari, hei tino painga ngā tini momo mahi a ēnei rōpū ki ngā mahi katoa o te pakanga.

Hei tauira te Kotahitanga o ngā Whaea Māori o Manutūkē (Manutuke Māori Mothers’ Union).  I kaha pīrangi te katoa ki te tautoko i ngā mahi pakanga, ā, ka hui rātou ki te kōrero mō tā rātou e mahi ai.[1] E matatau ana ngā wāhine ki te tuitui kākahu, ki te tui whakataniko, ki te nitiniti hoki.  Ka tū he rōpū mahi-ā-ringa, ka aro ai ki ngā hiahia a ngā hōhipera o ngā ope whawhai. Ka whakamāoritia he karakia motuhake mō te rangimārie, ā, whakatakotoria ki ō rātou kāinga katoa.[2]

He wāhanga ngā Whaea Māori o Manutūkē nō te Kotahitanga whānui. Nō te Hāhi o Ingarangi taua kotahitanga, puta noa te ao, he mea whakatau i te tau 1876.  Ki a rātou, he whakahirahira te whakahoatanga, ko te kaha me te mana o te karakia hoki.  I tahuri rātou ki te whawhai i ngā mate ā-hapori, ā-ohanga hoki, arā, i nga kino e whakapā ana ki te noho pai o te whānau. I whakatūria te Kotahitanga nei i te tau 1886 i Aotearoa, engari, tokoiti ngā wāhine Māori i uru, kia tae atu ki te tekautau 1930.[3]

I ia marama i ia marama ngā whaea o Manutūkē i hui ai ki roto i whare mīhana o te whare-karakia  Toko Toru Topu.  Hei poka pū taua whare mō te kāinga, arā, “the centre of all organisations for the good of the church and the community”.[4] Tū ai ngā tini huinga i reira i te wā pakanga, i mine ai ngā whaea rātou ko te hapori whānui ki te whakareri i ngā kono kai me ētahi atu taonga mō ngā hōia i tāwāhi.[5]  I ia wiki i ia wiki hoki i hui ai te Rōpū Nitiniti o te Mīhana o Manutūkē, Māori mai, Pākehā mai, ki te hanga i ngā pōtae pūāhuru [balaclavas], i ngā tōkena, i ngā poraka, i te aha i te aha, mō te tauā hōia me te tauā waka rererangi. [6] 

Tērā ētahi rīpoata i roto i ngā niupepa mō ngā mahi a te Kotahitanga; hei tauira, mō te kohi kākahu mō ngā manene rere o te pakanga, mō ngā wāhine me ngā tamariki o Ingarangi.[7]  I tukua hoki he moni ki te Rōpū Rīpeka Whero, ā, he taonga hoki ki te tuatahi o ō rātou hōia i mauheretia. [8] 

He wāhi manaaki hoki te whare karakia i te wā pakanga nei, ā, ka mahi ngā whaea ki te tautoko i te pāriha.  I kohia he moni hei whakatika i te whare karakia, ā, ka whakatipuria he rākau, he putiputi hoki hei whakapai i te whenua.[9]  Ka tukuna he moni ki ngā whaea pohara, ā, ka hoatu he taonga ki te waka tūroro o te rohe.  Ko te rā hirahira o te tau te taenga mai o te Pīhopa o Aotearoa, o te Rev. Pererika Pēneti. [10]

Nō te tau 1943 he rīpoata mō tētahi koha mīharo, mō tētahi koha motuhake, he mea āta hoahoa, he āta mea hanga e te rōpū nei.  I te tau 1942, ka riro i te New Zealand General Hospital No. 1 ki Īhipa he kuira [quilt] nā te Kotahitanga o ngā Whaea Māori o Manutūkē i tuitui.  He maha ngā kuira i tukuna atu i Aotearoa i te wā pakanga, engari, he rerekē tēnei mea.  Ko te pīrangi o ngā whaea “to convey a message of love and goodwill” ki ngā hōia Māori e noho tūroro ana.  Nā reira i tuia ai ki ngā hainatanga a ngā tāngata e 300 o te rohe o Manutūkē, hoa mai, whānau mai, Māori mai, Pākehā mai.  I tuia hoki te hainatanga a te Pīhopa o Aotearoa.

I whakahoki mai te tumuaki tuarua o ngā nēhi, hei māngai mō ngā kaimahi katoa, e tuhi ana, “It will give us great pleasure to use it on the beds of the Māori patients.  I know they will be delighted and intensely interested to find the names of their own people. I will keep a close look-out for the first soldier from the Manutuke district and I am sure he will be very proud to use the quilt.”  

I whakamōhio hoki a Sister Wilson i ngā whakaaro o ngā kaimahi o te hōhipera, e kī ana, “How proud we, as New Zealand women, are of the Māori Battalion in the Middle East.  As patients, either sick or wounded, they have endeared themselves to the nurses and sisters who have been privileged to care for them. They are outstandingly brave and cheerful in their sufferings. They never complain and are always ready to help the nursing staff and orderlies with fatigues.” 

“I wish you could have seen the Māori patients on Christmas Day with an improvised string orchestra going round the wards playing to the bedridden patients.  All day long they entertained and spread their cheerful spirit among the less fortunate.”

I te mutunga o tāna reta, ka mea mai ia, kātahi he hōia Māori ka whakaurua.  Nō Te Karaka ia, engari, he pai tōna mahara ki Manutūkē.  Nā reira, ko tōna moenga te tuatahi i uhia ki te kuira nei.[11]

Tērā ētahi atu rongo mō te kuira nei.  I Māehe 1949 te kuira i hoki mai ai ki Manutūkē.  Kua haere ki ngā tini wāhi o te ao.  I te mutunga o te whawhai ki Ūropi, ka tukuna ki tētahi hōhipera hōia ki Tiapana.  Engari, nā te katinga o ngā hōhipera katoa o te taha Piritihi i reira, ka whakatau te Rīpeka Whero kia whakahokia te kuira ki te iwi nāna i hanga.

I a ia e tamariki ana, ka noho a Stan Pardoe i Manutūkē, ā, ka maumahara ia ki te kuira.  Mō ētahi tau, ka whakakitea i te matapihi o te toa o Rīra [Reid] ki Tūranga.  He wāhi tēnei i mui ai te iwi.  Hokona kau te toa tawhito nei, ā, ka hangaia he whare hou.  I kūare pea ngā toakipa hou ki te hītori o taua kuira, ā, ka whakarērea, ka ngaro, ka ahatia rānei.[12]

Tērā pea ka tukuna ki tangata kē.  Ki te mōhio koe ki te ahatanga o te kuira whakamīharo nei, tēnā koa whakamōhiotia mai.  Kia ora.

Whakaahua: Toko Toru Tapu, Whare Karakia, Manutūkē.  Kaiwhakaahua: James D. Richardson. Nama: 4-6226, Auckland Libraries Heritage Collections.

[1] ‘Manutuke News’, Gisborne Herald, 14 Hepetema 1939.

[2]  Colleen Waingahuerangi Hawkins, ‘Toko Toru Tapu Church’, Pīpīwharauroa, Oketopa/Noema 2015: 8, https://issuu.com/issu-trial-etp/docs/nov20151/12; ‘Manutuke News’, Gisborne Herald, 14 Hepetema 1939.

[3] Association of Anglican Women, 1886-. https://nzhistory.govt.nz/women-together/association-anglican-women.

[4] ‘Maori Mission Work’, Gisborne Herald, 12 Āperira 1947.

[5]  Hawkins, ‘Toko Toru Tapu Church’.

[6] ‘News of the Day’, Gisborne Herald, 18 Tīhema 1940.

[7] ‘News of the Day’, Gisborne Herald, 18 Tīhema 1940.

[8]‘Daily Round’, Gisborne Herald, 9 Ākuhata 1941; 10 Māehe 1942.

[9]  ‘In and Out of Town’, Gisborne Herald, 15 Hūrae 1941.

[10]  ‘Mothers’ Union’, Waiapu Church Gazette, 1 Hānuere 1941; ‘In and Out of Town’, Gisborne Herald, 6 Mei 1941.

[11] ‘Autographed Quilt’, Gisborne Herald, 5 Mei 1943,  ‘Quilt Returned to Makers after Service Overseas’, Gisborne Herald, 30 Māehe 1949.

[12]  Īmēra nā Stan Pardoe, 21 Hepetema 2020.