Ahere te Koari Hohepa

Born 11th January 1877

Public - Lorraine Mona - Researcher - 26 November 2024 - Military record

- Died 13th October 1956

Public - Lorraine Mona - Researcher - 17 April 2024 - Arthur Joseph's SA War Record

Service number: WWI 16/229 AWMM
South African 816 AWMM
Also known as: Arthur Joseph AWMM
Armed force / branch: Army AWMM
Last rank: —
War: World War I, 1914-1918 AWMM
South African War, 1899-1902 AWMM

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Ahere te Koari Hohepa — New Zealand. Army. 1st Maori Contingent. Scroll of the 1st New Zealand Maori Contingent, 1915. Auckland War Memorial Museum Library. MS-624. Cultural Permissions may apply. Cultural Permissions Apply

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Present address (as listed in New Zealand. Army (1920). List of the names of all ex-members of the New Zealand Expeditionary Force, suffering permanent disability from 20% to 100%): C/o Manager National Bank, Napier AWMM
A rural Hawke's Bay cemetery is the final resting place of a farmer who changed his identity more than 100 years ago so he could serve New Zealand on the battlefields of the Boer War in South Africa.
Ahere Te Koari Hohepa was in his early 20s when he changed his name to the English version, Arthur Joseph, to enlist in the 3rd Contingent of the NZ Military Forces dispatched to South Africa about 1899.
He was discharged in 1902 at the end of the conflict & returned to his home near Moteo, a few kilometres west of Taradale. Not satisfied with his South African effort, he signed up for duty again 12 yrs later, This time for the NZ Maori Contingent & under his real name to serve during World War I.
The contingent was later renamed the NZ Maori Pioneer Battalion & it paved the way for the famous Maori Battalion formed for service in World War II. Mr Hohepa died in 1956 but there was nothing to mark his military contribution when he was laid to rest at Moteo Cemetery. About 45 years later, descendants, including his great-nephew Piri Prentice, began requesting Mr Hohepa's service records from the NZ War Graves Commission to see what could be done to mark the efforts of their war hero.
"We had a hell of a battle initially with the commission to get his records," Mr Prentice said.
We told them that Ahere had gone away twice to serve this country & he should at least have a plaque on his grave. We weren't asking for bags of money, just some kind of recognition."
The outcome was a new headstone which featured the name "A. T. Hohepa" and a plaque near the base which displayed "A. Joseph". Both acknowledge his military contribution & make for one of the more interesting Anzac stories among Hawke's Bay people who served overseas.
Mr Prentice's research and stories retold by family members suggested Mr Hohepa had changed to the English version of his name because Maori were excluded from service in South Africa. He believes his great-uncle would have been among a number of Maori who managed to join up and participate in the war by changing names or identities.

"He never talked about the war at all, which was the norm among all those who came back home after service I guess. But my nanny talked about it, how he had gone to the Boer War & had his name changed so he was able to go.
"He then changed it back to his real name when he enlisted in the First World War."
A service record for "Arthur Joseph" showed he was a private when he enlisted in 1899 for the South African campaign. He was awarded the Queen South Africa Medal with clasps for service in Johannesburg, Diamond Hill, Cape Colony, Orange Free State & South Africa.

He enlisted as a private for duty for World War I in October 1914 and was promoted a few months later to sergeant. He was dispatched to the Dardanelles in Turkey in June 1915 where the Gallipoli conflict had begun earlier on April 25 that year. He was almost 40 when he was discharged and came home to Hawke's Bay in 1916. In the years that followed, he began investing time in his family farming operation.
His time with me came long after he came home from the First World War," Mr Prentice said. He spoilt me and I felt like I was his favourite nephew. I can remember him taking me away to places like Mahia, where all the church hui were, and bringing me back home a few days later."
Mr Hohepa was a fluent speaker of Maori and, following his return from war, he put his language & research skills to work helping his brother steer a Treaty of Waitangi claim for the inner harbour of Napier. "I remember he became embroiled in the politics of the day & issues for our hapu," Mr Prentice said.
My grandfather was one of those who took the Treaty claim to the Crown in about 1924 & then my great uncle [Ahere] took over about 1934."
Mr Prentice said the group was made to wait 15 yrs before a response was released from the government of the day. - for further info - refer Hawkes Bay Today 25 April 2013
Public - Lorraine Mona - Researcher - 17 April 2024 - Lest we forget - Hawkes Bay Today - By Lawrence Gullery - 25 Apr, 2013

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Ahere te Koari Hohepa

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