Tumaru Peneamene

Private Tamati Tumaru Peneamene

Year of Birth: 1882

Date of Death: Died of Dysentery on 18 September 1915

Age: 33

Nationality: British/ New Zealand

Regiment: 1st New Zealand Maori Contingent

Family:Maaka and Hohepa Peneamene, of Waihao Tieke

Occupation: Farm Labourer

Service Number: 16/284

Image from the supplement to the Auckland Weekly News 28 October 1915, p40. Sir George Grey Special Collections, Auckland Libraries, AWNS-19151028-40-1

Members of the Maori Contingent aboard ship before their departure in February 1915

Tumaru Peneamene was on aboard troopship SS Warrimoo 14 February 1915, as part of the first Māori. contingent bound for garrison duties in Egypt and Malta, intended to free up regular troops for the Gallipoli Campaign that began on 25 April.

The first Maori Contingent motto was 'Te Hokowhitu a Tū' (the seventy twice-told warriors of the war god), signifying the 140 warriors of the war god, Tū-mata-uenga. This name was given by Wī Pere, an East Coast rangatira. The crest of the contingent bore two traditional Māori weapons, the taiaha and tewhatewha, crossed through a crown, although High Command had no intention initially to allow Maoris to fight.

The Native Contingent Committee and the men of the contingent themselves were determined that Māori should see combat, despite imperial concern about their use of weapons against European forces. Many New Zealanders thought that an exception should be made for Māori. When the contingent arrived in Egypt, Te Rangi Hīroa (Peter Buck) made a plea:

Our ancestors were a warlike people … [T]he members of this war party would be ashamed to face their people at the conclusion of the war if they were to be confined entirely to garrison duty and not … given an opportunity of proving their mettle at the front.

J.B. Condliffe, Te Rangi Hiroa: the life of Sir Peter Buck, Whitcombe and Tombs, Christchurch, 1971, p. 127

After significant ANZAC casualties following the first couple of months of Gallipoli, the Māori soldiers were soon deployed as fighting troops. Arriving at North Beach in ANZAC Cove, Gallipoli, on 3 July, the contingent established itself at ‘Outpost No 1’ which became known as ‘Māori Pa’. During the assault on Chunuk Bair in early August, the contingent fought alongside other units of the New Zealand Expeditionary Force for the first time. This was also the first time many Europeans heard the Maori haka “ka mate, ka mate, ka ora, ka ora” called as they attacked the Turkish lines.

Hot weather and poor sanitation led to many soldiers like Tumaru Peneamene contracting dysentry at Gallipoli. - on 24th May a Truce was called to bury the dead and recover the wounded as the conditions were unbearable for all: Al de Vine recalled:

‘The stench of the dead bodies now is simply awful, as they have been fully exposed to the sun for several days, many have swollen terribly and have burst... many men wear gas protectors... there has been no attempt up to the present to either remove or bury [the dead], they are stacked out of the way in any convenient place.’

Tumaru Peneamene must have died soon after arriving in Birmingham to be buried at Lodge Hill Cemetery in September 1915.

The Pioneer Battalion performing a haka for Joseph Ward at Bois-de-Warnimont, 30 June 1918

Text in italics supplied by Cenotaph Online, Auckland War Memorial Museum

The passenger steamer SS Warrimoo was quietly knifing its way through the waters of the mid-Pacific on its way from Vancouver to Australia. The navigator had just finished working out a star fix and brought the master, Captain John Phillips, the result. The Warrimoo's position was latitude 0 degrees x 31 minutes north and longitude 179 degrees x 30 minutes west.

The date was 30 December 1899. Know what this means? First Mate Payton broke in, we're only a few miles from the intersection of the Equator and the International Date Line.

Captain Phillips was prankish enough to take full advantage of the opportunity for achieving the navigational freak of a lifetime. He called his navigators to the bridge to check and double check the ships position. He changed course slightly so as to bear directly on his mark. Then he adjusted the engine speed. The calm weather and clear night worked in his favour. At midnight the Warrimoo lay on the Equator at exactly the point where it crossed the International Date Line!

The consequences of this bizarre position were many. The forward part of the ship was in the Southern Hemisphere and the middle of summer. The stern was in the Northern Hemisphere and in the middle of winter. The date in the aft part of the ship was 31 December 1899. Forward it was 1 January 1900.

This ship was in two different days, two different months, two different seasons, two different years and in two different centuries at the same time.

SS Warrimoo was an Australian/New Zealand passenger ship, launched in 1892

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