| Full Name: |
Second Lieutenant Henare Mokena Kohere |
 |
| Rank Last Held: |
Second Lieutenant |
|
| Forename(s): |
Henare Mokena |
|
| Surname: |
Kohere |
|
| War: |
World War I, 1914-1918 |
|
| Serial No.: |
16/1018 |
|
| Iwi: |
Ngati Porou |
|
| Gender: |
Male |
|
| Date of Birth: |
10 March 1880 |
|
| Place of Birth: |
Te Araroa, New Zealand |
|
| First Known Rank: |
Second Lieutenant |
|
| Occupation before Enlistment: |
Farmer |
|
| Next of Kin: |
Rev. P.M. Kohere (trustee), Rangitikei, New Zealand |
|
| Marital Status: |
Married |
|
| Enlistment Address: |
Te Araroa, New Zealand |
|
| Military District: |
Wellington |
|
| Body on Embarkation: |
2nd Maori Contingent |
|
| Embarkation Unit: |
A Company |
|
| Embarkation Date: |
18 September 1915 |
|
| Place of Embarkation: |
Wellington, New Zealand |
|
| Transport: |
HMNZT 29 |
|
| Vessel: |
Waitemata |
|
| Destination: |
Suez, Egypt |
|
| Nominal Roll Number: |
Vol1 |
|
| Page on Nominal Roll: |
400 |
|
| Last Unit Served: |
Pioneer Battalion |
|
| Place of Death: |
France |
|
| Date of Death: |
16 September 1916 |
|
| Age at Death: |
36 |
|
| Year of Death: |
1916 |
|
| Cause of Death: |
Died of wounds |
|
| Cemetery Name: |
Heilly Station Cemetery, Mericourt-l'Abbe, Somme, France |
|
| Grave Reference: |
IV. F. 11. |
|
| Biographical Notes: |
- Henare Kohere was born in 1880 in Te Araroa, the fourth child and third son of Hone Hiki Kohere and Henarata Bristow. Hone Hiki's father was a highly respected warrior and Rangatira, Mokena Kohere, famous for the military stand he took against the Hauhau and for his wisdom and skill in endeavouring to safeguard Maori ownership of land.
- Henare's earliest schooling was in Te Araroa. In 1887, when his grandfather, Mokena Kohere, retired from his position in Wellington, he returned to live in his family home in Rangitukia. By this time his son, Hone Hiki, had died, and Henare's mother also moved to Rangitukia to care for her father-in-law, in accordance with her late husband's wishes. She stayed there until Mokena's death in 1894, so most of Henare's primary education was at Rangitukia school.
- The following year Henare, like his brothers Reweti and Pohipi before him, enrolled at Te Aute College. Both Pohipi and Henare were enrolled under the surname Morgan, the name from which the Maori Mokena is derived. (The other two boys, Reweti, and the youngest brother, Tawhai, were enrolled with the surname Kohere.)
- After he left school Henare went as a farm cadet to a sheep station in the Nelson area, later joining his mother and sister to work on the family farm at East Cape. While there, he was awarded the bronze medal of the Royal Humane Society for his bravery in saving the life of a sailor from the scow Whakapai, which had overturned in a southerly gale off the East cape. The crew of five clung to the keel for hours, until eventually all but James Bertie were washed off and drowned. When he, too, slipped into the water, Henare was able to swim out and bring him ashore alive.
- More is known about the life of Henare Kohere partly because his older brother, Reweti Kohere, wrote two biographical books which contained information about him (The Autobiography of a Maori and The Story of a Maori Chief), and partly because of his reputation from his part played in the First World War.
- When his brother Henare returned to New Zealand he went back to farming. In 1905 he married Ngarangi, the daughter of an Anglican minister, the distinguished Mohi Turei. They had three children - two daughters, Huinga Raupani and Ngarangi Putiputi, and a son, Hone Hiki. Like his father, Hone Hiki also represented New Zealand at a coronation, that of Queen Elizabeth II, Henare's wife died when the children were quite young and they were brought up in Rangitukia by their maternal grandmother, Kararaina Korimete.
- In 1915, Henare followed in the footsteps of his younger brother, Tawhai Mokena Kohere (16/110), and enlisted for service in the New Zealand Army. It is said that 60 Ngati Porou men, inspired by his example, enlisted in the following days. His older brother described Henare as a good correspondent who kept in touch with the family. One letter written to his children from an army camp in Auckland, before he left for active service, has survived. The following is an excerpt from that letter, translated by his grandson and namesake, Henare Kohere Swann.
- Ka nui te pai o nga rangi e noho atu nei. Ina tonu a Peta e noho nei kei te korero pukapuka, kei roto i taku ruma. Kia pai te noho, e hika ma, kia pai kia koutou ki to koutou tipuna hoki. Kei te pai te whanau e noho atu nei; hei te Ratapu rawa pea au nei tae ai ki te taone ki te karakia i roto i nga whare whakamiharo o te Pakeha. Kaore he korero ke atu, heoi ano ko te mahi tonu i nga mahi a te hoia. Kua tino mohio rawa te ahua o te tangata ki te mahi nei. Hei kona ra e Hui - kia aroha ki o taina, kia pai ki a Ngarangi, a kia pai ki a Hiki. Hei Kona ra, e Hiki, tae rawa atu au kua pakeke rawa koe. Hei kona i o koutou taina, tuakana hoki; ka tata koutou te kite i a Papa. Ma te Atua tatou e tiaki e awhina, i nga wa katoa, a ka kite ano. Heoi ano, Na to koutou papa aroha. Papa XXXXX Ma Ngarangi e tuari nga kihi
- The weather has been good here. Peta is sitting in my room reading a book. Look after yourselves, be good to each other and be good to your Nanny. All of us are doing fine. On Sunday I'll most probably go into town to church to one of the beautiful buildings of the Pakeha. There is nothing else to write about - just the usual routine of soldiers duties. We are getting used to this way of life. Goodbye for now. Huinga - look after your young sister, Ngarangi, and be good to Hiki. Goodbye Hiki. When I come back you will be a big boy. Say goodbye to all your cousins and relations. It won't be long before you see Papa again. Huinga, you and Ngaramgi keep praying for Papa. The Lord support and guide us always. Goodbye for now, from your loving Papa. Papa XXXXX Ngarangi, you can share all the kisses to everyone.
- The New Zealand Division was moved to France after the evacuation of Gallipolli, and Second Lieutenant Kohere and his Ngati Porou men were engaged in the Somme offensive. He was hit by a German shell, and died from the wounds in 1916. At his dying request, his cousin, Pekama Kaa, was put in charge of his platoon.
- In his Story of a Maori Chief, Reweti Kohere quoted a contemporary London newspaper report: THE PASSING OF KOHERE - A RANAGTIRA'S WISH Old Kohere was the chief of Ngati-Porou. He was named Ropata Wahawaha to lead his taua for his prowess; and he himself sat in council in the New Zealand Parliament in his ripe years. Lieutenant Kohere lay on a stretcher in the dugout on the Somme. He was quite comfortable and happy. In one hand he held a lighted cigarette; the other hand was smashed by a high-explosive shell. He was greviously wounded, too, in the groin. Kohere was a chief, and he was paying his small debts, his trifling mess accounts and so on, because he expected to die. The Major (Rangihiroa) thrust his head and shoulders in at the door, darkening the dugout. "How is it, Kohere?" he asked in Maori. "Ka nui te kino," was the quiet reply. The tohunga might not know. But Kohere knew it was very bad, and he was squaring up with life like a chief. Kohere's grandfather had named Ropata for the war captain, because a chief always wishes well for the tribe. Was there anything Kohere wanted? "There is only one thing," whispered the dying rangatira. "I want the platoon to go to Kaa." It was the old tribal mana. Ngati-Porou had a full platoon of their own, and yet another platoon was chiefly of Ngati-Porou with a Ngati-Porou leader, Lieutenant Kaa. The rangitira wished to hand over his tribesmen to their chief. Kohere went down the line and died, and was buried, and far away at the Antipodes the greatest tangi of Ngati-Porou mourned his passing. "What is to be done?" said the Colonel to the Major when they talked of subsequent appointments. "Well the first thing to do is to be square with Kohere. Kaa must have the platoon." And Kaa leads the Ngati-Porou to-day.
- Sir Apirana Ngata composed a tangi (lament) to commemorate the work of the Maori Pioneer Battalion. The second verse of this was devoted to the East Coast tribes and refers to Henare Kohere specifically: E te Ope Tuarua No Mahaki rawa, Na Hauiti koe, Na Porourangi. I haere ai Henare Me to "wiwi". Hei kawe korero, Ki te iwi nui e. Taukiri e! The Second Party Came from Mahaki, From Hauiti also, And from Porourangi. When Henare went And his "wiwi" News and Message. To all at home: Alas! Alas!
- Reweti Kohere explains that "wiwi" is a Ngati-Porou colloquial term meaning a party of young people.
- In Hikurangi to Homburg Henare describes his first journey overseas. His last journey took him back to France, where his body lies in a grave in the Somme.
- Father of Lieutenant Hiki Kohere (1953) who was part of the Coronation Contingent for Queen Elizabeth.
|
|
| Description of Image: |
Portrait, Auckland Weekly News 1916 |
|
| Further References: |
|
|
| Sources Used: |
- Nominal Rolls of New Zealand Expeditionary Force Volume I. Wellington: Govt. Printer, 1914-1919
- Te Ao Hou
- Commonwealth War Graves Commission. URL: http://www.cwgc.org
- Cowan, J. (1926). The Maoris in the Great War: a history of the New Zealand Native Contingent & Pioneer Battalion. Auckland, N.Z.: Maori Regimental Committee by Whitcombe & Tombs. Digital copy. URL: http://www.nzetc.org/tm/scholarly/tei-CowMaor.html
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
| Click on an image for a larger view |
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|