John Walter Callaway

Born 1874 - Died 16 Sept 1926

Service number: South African 74 AWMM
South African 363 AWMM
South African SA363 AWMM
Also known as: Walter John Calloway AWMM
Wally AWMM
Cal AWMM
Wata Te Wahahuia AWMM
Walter Galloway AWMM
Armed force / branch: Army AWMM
Last rank: Lieutenant/Military AWMM New Zealand Mounted Rifles, 9th Contingent (Supplement) AWMM
War: South African War, 1899-1902 AWMM

John Walter Callaway — 3/4 length portrait of Trooper Callaway wearing a Maori cloak and holding a mere. Trooper Callaway, of the N.Z. Contingent, author of the Maori battle cry. 'Kia kaha Niu Tireni. Whawhai maiea mo to Kuini to Kaianga. Ake Ake Ake!' [Be strong, New Zealand. Fight bravely for your Queen, for your country. Ever, Ever, Ever!] Sir George Grey Special Collections, Auckland Libraries, AWNS-18991222-5-3. Image has no known copyright restrictions. No Known Copyright Restrictions

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Biographical information

Husband Lillian Emma Robinson, they married 2 July 1907.

While en route to South Africa Private Callaway, a Maori, composed the New Zealanders' War Cry, "Kia, Kaha, Nui Tireni. Whaiwhai maiea mo ti kuinui, to Kaianga. Ake!Ake!Ake!".

Author of the Maori Battle Cry "Splendid scout"

Calloway was an excellent scout and rode with many despatches at night through the bush veldt. He departed South Africa aboard the S.S. 'Harleck Castle'. In New Zealand joined the 24 Company, 7 NZMR as Sergeant-Major. (Stowers, p.158)

'He was mentioned by Kitchener in his despatches, "for rescuing mounted men under heavy fire at Witkop." Apparently the 7 NZMR had orders to fire on Boers but Calloway believed then to be Queenslanders and took his squadron to the rescue.' (Stowers, p.158)

Calloway was wounded at Vereeniging, in July 1901, while rescuing a comrade under fire he received a punctured liver and a wounded lung. He returned to New Zealand for a second time and joined the 9 NZMR, returning to South Africa as Lieutenant. (Stowers, p.158)

In August 1902, Lieutenant Walter Calloway contracted smallpox aboard the troopship Orient while returning to New Zealand from South Africa. The diagnosis prompted the quarantine of approximately 450 returning soldiers on Somes Island, Wellington, along with vaccination and isolation measures. Calloway was identified as a former Coromandel miner who had served with the First, Seventh and Ninth New Zealand Mounted Rifles Contingents. The newspaper also identified his father as John Galloway of Kaikowhakarere, Auckland.
Source: ‘Small-Pox’, Lyttelton Times, 9 August 1902, p. 6.

Calloway returned to the Coromandel after the war and received the Imperial Life Pension. He died in 1926 after many years of ill health brought about by the wounds he received during the war.

'The Veteran' (the official publication of the South African War Veteran's Association of New Zealand), volume No.46, May 1971, which lists the honours and awards to New Zealand Contingents in South Africa, Sergeant-Major W. J. Calloway is listed as receiving the Distinguished Conduct Medal (DCM). This has also been mentioned in articles in 1st NZMR Association bulletins. (Stowers, p.158)

Known as Walter.

Headstone transcription: there is no death and love can never lose its own.

Boer War display in Auckland Museum "Kia Kaha Niu Tireni" (a reproduction of battle cry) and a photo of J.W. Callaway in feather cloak holding a mere.

His story was also told in an exhibition at the old Courthouse, Coromandel Town and will then be displayed in the Biran Boru Hotel building in Thames.

His father was named John Bone. AWMM

About death

Death: 16 Sept 1926 AWMM
Age 52 AWMM
Date of death: —
Age at death: —
Place of death: —
Cause of death: Died of wounds AWMM
Death notes: —
Cemetery: O'Neill's Point Cemetery, 122 Bayswater Avenue, Bayswater, North Shore, Auckland AWMM Row 1 Plot 141 AWMM
Cemetery name: —
Grave reference: —
Obituary: MR WALTER CALLAWAY. There died at Devonport yesterday a very gallant soldier and gentleman in the person of Mr. Walter Callaway, formerly of Coromandel. He had been an invalid for sixteen years and had walked with sticks for ten. Mr. Callaway was one of the first men in New Zealand to join for service in South Africa. He served in successive contingents, receiving big commission in the field, being recommended for decoration for very gallant services. He was severely wounded through a bullet injuring the spine during an attempt to rescue a comrade under heavy fire. He represented both races of New Zealand and was a specially good scout. He volunteered on one occasion to carry dispatches through bushveld in the night and through enemy country. He was perfectly successful. While he was with the Seventh contingent at Witkop, orders were given to fire on body of the enemy. Callaway, then a sergeant major, believing them to be not Boers but Queenslanders, hesitated to obey orders, and indeed went to their aid with a squadron and rescued the Australians.
Mr. Callaway married in 1907 Miss Lillian Robinson, of Devonport. who survives him. Despite the severe nature of his injuries. Mr. Callaway took up land at Tauriko and farmed it, only desisting when he could no longer get about even on sticks. He has been a notable example of great courage under unbearable suffering
Public - Lorraine Mona - Researcher - 28 November 2024 - OBITUARY. - Auckland Star, Volume LVII, Issue 221, 17 September 1926, Page 9
John Walter Callaway, formerly a member of the Coromandel Rifles, was probably the 1st Maori commissioned officer in the NZ Defence Forces
Public - Lorraine M - Researcher - 4 February 2016 - RSA Review October 1999 (Newspaper Supplement)
Memorial name: —
Memorial reference: —

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John Walter Callaway