Puaka Whitau

Forenames

Puaka AWMM

Surname

Whitau AWMM

Also known as

Puaka Whitau AWMM

Service number

WWI 16/188 AWMM

Gender

Male AWMM

Iwi / Hapū / Waka / Rohe

Iwi Māori, Māori AWMM

Date of birth

3rd May 1893 or # April 1893

Public - Lorraine Mona - Researcher - 20 February 2025 - Military record

Place of birth

Te Muka

Public - Lorraine Mona - Researcher - 20 February 2025 - Military record

Birth notes

Son of Teone and Ratira Whitau, of Temuka, Southland

Public - Lorraine Mona - Researcher - 20 February 2025 - Military record

Address before enlistment

• Unknown AWMM Tuahiwi, New Zealand AWMM
• Tuahine
  Public - Lorraine Mona - Researcher - 20 February 2025 - Military record

Next of kin

Mrs Miria Kemara (aunt), Temuka, New Zealand AWMM

Relationship status

Pre 14 Feb 1915 AWMM Single AWMM

War

World War I, 1914-1918 AWMM

Armed force / branch

Army AWMM

Service number

WWI 16/188 AWMM

Enlistment

WW1 Unknown AWMM

Embarkation details

WW1 14 Feb 1915-26 Mar 1915 AWMM
HMNZT 20 AWMM Vessel was Warrimoo AWMM Private AWMM A Company AWMM 1st Maori Contingent AWMM

Medical notes

Died of Disease, Cause of Death AWMM
Died of disease AWMM

Last rank

WW1 Private AWMM
New Zealand Maori Contingent AWMM

Son of Teone and Ratira Whitau, of Temuka, Southland, New Zealand.

Next of Kin: Mrs T. Whitau, Hillgrove, Otago (Roll of Honour, Auckland Province 1914-1918 (Volume 2)) AWMM

Death

10 Oct 1915 AWMM
Age  19 AWMM

Place of death

Pinwood Sanatorium, Surrey, England

Public - Lorraine Mona - Researcher - 20 February 2025 - https://www.nzwargraves.org.nz/casualties/puaka-whitau

Cause of death

Died of Disease AWMM

Cemetery

Wokingham (St Sebastian) Churchyard, Heathlands Road, Nine Mile Ride, Wokingham Berkshire England AWMM Special Plot 1 AWMM

Obituary

WHITAU, Puaka - WW1 16/188 - NZEF Army Pauka Whitau was born to Teone and Ratira Whitau from Temuka 3rd April 1893. He spent his early years at the Maori Pa at Temuka. raised by Mr Harry Kahu. He enlisted on 29th Sept. 1914 in Tuahiwi where he was working as a labourer. He departed NZ with the Maori Battalion on the Warimoo and disembarked at Suez, Egypt. They then moved to Malta for garrison duty. On 14th August he was at "Anzac" sick and was transported to Malta until 29th August diagnosed with diarrheoa and chronic bronchitis and evacuated to England onboard the HMS Oxfordshire. Admitted to Bethnal Green Hospital 5th Sept. where he was diagnosed with pulmonary TB and transferred to Pinwood Sanatorium in Surrey where he died on 10th Oct. 1915 of bronchitis and was buried in the St. Sebastian Churchyard Cemetery in Workingham, Surrey at age 22

Public - Lorraine Mona - Researcher - 20 February 2025 - https://www.nzwargraves.org.nz/casualties/puaka-whitau

Memorial name

Auckland War Memorial Museum, World War 1 Hall of Memories AWMM

Related objects

Related Serviceperson

External links

• Military personnel file
  https://collections.archives.govt.nz/web/arena/search/#/entity/aims-archive/R22018337
  Further Reference
• New Zealand Electronic Text Collection topic page
  http://www.nzetc.org/tm/scholarly/name-130831.html
  Further Reference
• SCRoll profile (South Canterbury Roll of Honour)
  https://museum.timaru.govt.nz/explore/scroll/profile?id=2424
  Further Reference
• A Street Near You record
  https://astreetnearyou.org/person/649253/-
  Further Reference
• Commonwealth War Graves Commission Casualty record
  https://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/649253
  Further Reference
• Cowan, J. (1926). The Maoris in the Great War. Auckland, N.Z.: Maori Regimental Committee by Whitcombe & Tombs.
  https://ndhadeliver.natlib.govt.nz/webarchive/20201108000000/https://nzetc.victoria.ac.nz/tm/scholarly/tei-CowMaor.html
  Further Reference

References

• New Zealand Army Expeditionary Force. (1914-1919). Nominal Rolls of New Zealand Expeditionary Force, Volume I. Wellington, N.Z.: Govt. Printer.
  Vol1: 771
• New Zealand. Army. 1st Maori Contingent. Scroll of the 1st New Zealand Maori Contingent, 1915. Auckland War Memorial Museum Library. MS-624.
• Beattie, P.J. & Pomeroy, M. (2013-2020). Onward : portraits of the New Zealand Expeditionary Force (vols 1-5). Auckland, New Zealand: Fair Dinkum Publications
  Vol. 1: Includes portrait
• Soutar, M. (2019). Whitiki! Whiti! Whiti! E!: Maori In the First World War. New Zealand: David Bateman Ltd.
• The Fields of Remembrance Trust: Brothers Field, Auckland Museum (Armistice, 2018)
• Roll of Honour, Auckland Province (digital copy), 1914 - 1919. Auckland War Memorial Museum Library. MS-2016-2.
• Cowan, J. (1926). The Maoris in the Great War. Auckland, N.Z.: Maori Regimental Committee by Whitcombe & Tombs.
• Pugsley, C. (1995). Te Hokowhitu a Tu : the Maori Pioneer Battalion in the first World War. Auckland, N.Z.: Reed.