Falaoa
Born 1896 - Died 27 Sept 1941
- Service number
- WWI 16/1044 AWMM
- Also known as
- Frank Falaoa AWMM
- Tosene AWMM
- Falaoa Frank Dawson AWMM
- Polepu AWMM
- Armed force / branch
- Army AWMM
- Last rank
- WW1 Private Military personnel file New Zealand (Maori) Pioneer Battalion Military personnel file
- War
- World War I, 1914-1918 AWMM
About
- Title
- —
- Forenames
- —
- Surname
- Falaoa AWMM
- Ingoa
- —
- Also known as
- Frank Falaoa AWMM
- Tosene AWMM
- Falaoa Frank Dawson AWMM
- Polepu AWMM
- Service number
- WWI 16/1044 AWMM
- Gender
- Male AWMM
- Iwi / Hapū / Waka / Rohe
- —
- Religion
- Protestant, Christian AWMM
Images
Documents
About birth
- Birth
- 1896 Military personnel file
- Date of birth
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- Place of birth
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- Birth notes
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- Address before enlistment
- WW1 Pre 02 Oct 1915 AWMM Avatele, Niue AWMM
- Post war occupation
- Labourer/Civilian AWMM
- Next of kin
- WW1 Tosene (father), Avetele, Niue Island, Pacific Islands AWMM
- WW1 Tosene (father), Avatele, Niue AWMM
- Relationship status
- 1915 AWMM Single/WWI AWMM
- Married AWMM
Falaoa married Eligi Maifala and they had seven children AWMM
Wars and conflicts
- War
- World War I, 1914-1918 AWMM
- Campaign
- 1914-1919 AWMM Egyptian Expeditionary Force (EEF) AWMM
- 1914-1919 AWMM Egyptian Expeditionary Force (EEF) AWMM
- 1914-1919 AWMM Western Front AWMM
- Armed force / branch
- Army AWMM
- Service number
- WWI 16/1044 AWMM
- Military service
- —
- Promotions/ Postings/ Transfers
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Military decorations
- Medals and Awards
Training and Enlistment
- Military training
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- Branch Trade Proficiency
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- Enlistment
- WW1 01 Oct 1915 Military personnel file Settler/Civilian Military personnel file
- Age on enlistment
- —
- Occupation before enlistment
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Embarkations
- Embarkation details
- WW1 05 Feb 1916-15 Mar 1916 Military personnel file
HMNZT 44 Military personnel file Vessel was Navua AWMM Private Military personnel file Rarotongans, Attached B Company Military personnel file 3rd Maori Contingent AWMM
Prisoner of war
- Capture details
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- Days interned
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- Liberation date
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- POW liberation details
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- Liberation Repatriation
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- POW serial number
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Medical history
- Medical notes
- 1 Oct 1915 AWMM Height, WWI AWMM
5 foot 6.75 inches AWMM - 1 Oct 1915 AWMM Weight, WWI AWMM
144 pounds AWMM - 1 Oct 1915 AWMM Dental, WWI AWMM
Good AWMM - 18 Apr 1916 AWMM Wounds Diseases Etc., WWI AWMM
Admitted, 12th Casualty Clearing Station, in the Field, France flat feet. AWMM - 1916 AWMM Wounds Diseases Etc., WWI AWMM
Admitted hospital in England, including Hornchurch AWMM - 31 Aug 1916 AWMM Wounds Diseases Etc., WWII AWMM
Invalided to NZ on the HS Marama AWMM - Died from Natural Causes, Cause of Death AWMM
- 1 Oct 1915 AWMM Height, WWI AWMM
Last known rank
- Last rank
- WW1 8 Dec 1916 Military personnel file
No longer physically fit for war service AWMM
Private Military personnel file
New Zealand (Maori) Pioneer Battalion Military personnel file - Last rank
- —
Biographical information
- Husband of Eligi Maifala. Of Niuean descent.
Named as Frank Falaoa on by BDM, deaths, his death notice and burial details.
Correspondence dated July 1948 filed on his Military personnel file, suggests other names Tosene; Dawson Falaoa; Falaoa Tosene.
Falaoa (also recorded as Falaoa Frank Dawson and Falaoa Tosene) (16/1044) was born about 1896 at Avatele, Niue. He enlisted at Alofi on 1 October 1915 and served with the 3rd Māori Contingent, later attached to the New Zealand (Maori) Pioneer Battalion during World War I.
Raised in Niue with strong fishing, diving and plantation skills, Falaoa was accustomed to physical labour, yet the conditions of the Western Front were unlike anything he had known. His brother Corporal Dawson Fasene (16/1034) who also served and had trained as a student teacher, had learned English. Falaoa, however, did not speak English, which made communication during his service and hospitalisation more difficult.
While labouring in France, he developed severe trench foot from prolonged exposure to cold, wet conditions and tight military boots. Hospitalised in England, he struggled to understand the seriousness of his condition. In Chelsea Hospital he was visited by former Niuean missionaries Frank and Sarah Lawes. Speaking to him in Niuean, Sarah helped him grasp the risk of gangrene and the need for careful daily treatment. He survived and was invalided back to New Zealand in 1916.
His experience has since been brought to wider public attention through the research of historian Margaret Pointer and the documentary Great War Stories 4 – Falaoa Tosene (2017), directed by Anna Cottrell.
Falaoa later married Eligi Maifala and they had seven children. Their third child, Dawson “Don” Falaoa (810740), served with the New Zealand Army during World War II and died of sickness in 1946, aged just 19. Falaoa died on 27 September 1941, aged 47. Their service reflects the enduring contribution of Niuean families to New Zealand’s wartime history (Profile written for “A Flight to Remember”, an Anzac Day 2026 initiative by Online Cenotaph and Air New Zealand). AWMM
About death
- Death
- 27 Sept 1941 Military personnel file
Age 45 AWMM - Date of death
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- Age at death
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- Place of death
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- Cause of death
- Died from Natural Causes AWMM
- Death notes
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- Cemetery
- Waikumete Cemetery, Glen Eden, Auckland, New Zealand AWMM Soldiers Burial G Row 4, Plot 35 AWMM
- Cemetery name
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- Grave reference
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- Obituary
- Death notice: New Zealand Herald, Volume 78, Issue 24082, 29 September 1941, Page 1 AWMM
- Memorial name
- —
- Memorial reference
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Memorial
- Memorial name
- Alofi National Memorial, Niue AWMM
- Avatele War Memorial, Niue AWMM
Related Serviceperson
Sources
- External links
- Military personnel file
https://collections.archives.govt.nz/web/arena/search/#/entity/aims-archive/R21001820
Sources Used - Death notice: New Zealand Herald, 29 September 1941, Page 1
http://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bin/paperspast?a=d&cl=search&d=NZH19410929.2.5
Sources Used - Avatele War Memorial, Niue
https://nzhistory.govt.nz/memorial/avatele-war-memorial-niue
Further Reference - Alofi National Memorial, Niue
https://nzhistory.govt.nz/memorial/alofi-national-memorial-niue
Further Reference - Pacific Islanders in NZEF. Ministry for Culture and Heritage.
https://nzhistory.govt.nz/war/pacific-islanders-nzef
Further Reference - Vekula-Moonen,M (2018) GranddaughterPublic - Mel - Direct descendant - 15 July 2018 - melb@globe.net.nz
- Military personnel file
- References
- New Zealand Army Expeditionary Force. (1917). Nominal Rolls of New Zealand Expeditionary Force Volume II. Wellington, N.Z.: Govt. Printer.
25: 3 - Pointer, M. (2000). Tagi tote e loto haaku - My heart is crying a little : Niue Island involvement in the Great War, 1914-1918. Alofi, Niue ; Suva, Fiji: Government of Niue ; Institute of Pacific Studies, University of the South Pacific.
- Pointer, M. (2015). Niue 1774-1974 : 200 years of conflict and change. Dunedin, New Zealand : Otago University Press.
- Weddell, H. (2016). Soldiers from the Pacific : the story of Pacific Island soldiers in the New Zealand Expeditionary Force in World War One. Wellington, New Zealand : Defence of New Zealand Study Group.
- Soutar, M. (2019). Whitiki! Whiti! Whiti! E!: Maori In the First World War. New Zealand: David Bateman Ltd.
- Pugsley, C. (1995). Te Hokowhitu a Tu : the Maori Pioneer Battalion in the first World War. Auckland, N.Z.: Reed.
- This record was part of “A Flight to Remember”, an Anzac Day 2026 commemorative partnership between Online Cenotaph and Air New Zealand, where service stories were shared onboard a dawn flight from Auckland to Sydney.
- New Zealand Army Expeditionary Force. (1917). Nominal Rolls of New Zealand Expeditionary Force Volume II. Wellington, N.Z.: Govt. Printer.
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