Trips and Travels

This blog is about my great-great-uncle Tuhuru Bannister.

Tuhuru was born 13 July 1894 at Jacobs River the West Coast of the South Island to father John Bannister and mother Hera or Sara.

The lady at left is my great-great-grandmother Hera Bannister (nee Te Koeti, daughter of Te Koeti Turanga and Ripeka Patiere Tūtoko). Behind her, with the shovel is the eldest son, William (named after his father). Immediately beside Hera is her son, George. The lady in the doorway is daughter Margaret (my great-grandmother). The young boy squatting at the front is another son, David. The gentleman holding a hat is my great-great-grandfather John William Bannister. Beside him, wearing a hat is another son, James. The child sitting in front is the youngest son, Tuhuru.

War broke out 5 August 1914 and Tuhuru enlisted and attested 15 November 1914 (aged 20), joining the New Zealand Maori Contingent (video) (more).

He sailed from New Zealand on Troop Ship Number 20, SS Warrimoo, 14 February 1915 arriving at Suez, Egypt 5 weeks later, 26 March 1915. Before sailing, the entire First New Zealand Maori Contingent signed a scroll which is now in the Auckland Museum. (Tuhuru's signature is about halfway down in column seven).

The contingent initially were to be used as garrison duty in Malta.

On 30 June 2015, Tuhuru again embarked another ship bound for the Dardanelles campaign.

The Gallipoli landings were 25 April 1915. Tuhuru and the 460 strong man Maori Contingent landed at Gallipoli 3 July 1915. The Maori Contingent were part of the attack on Chunuk Bair on 7 August. Historian James Cowan wrote: "The Maoris went into that splendid attack, their first battle with the bayonet, in a mood of savage determination and delight. This was their chance for fame. They went grimly for those Turks, bayoneted them in their lines, they burst into a tremendous haka when they had cleared the trenches - 'Ka mate, ka mate, ka ora, ka ora!' - then silence as they pressed on to the next point."

The Thames Star, however reported that the Maori Contingent was "cut up" and that "the survivors wer incorporated with other units.

However the next day, this story was retracted.

On 17 August, Tuhuru was taken from the peninsula, to hospital in Lemnos, Cairo, then Alexandria.

Aotea, New Zealand Convalescent Home, Heliopolis, Cairo

A letter from one of the Maori Contingent, Private Tawhai Kohere was published in the Poverty Bay Herald. He says "we are a lonely party ... about 100 out of a force of 500".

Tuhuru's discharge from hospital was reported in the Poverty Bay Herald 6 October, 1916.

On 16 October, he was returned to his unit at ANZAC. On 20 December, the Allied Forces evacuated the Gallipoli Peninsula. Of 461 ordinary rank Maori contingent soldiers and 16 officers who fought at Gallipoli, only two officers and 132 men remained at the end. Tuhuru's records show him disembarked at Alexandra on 27 December 1915. He was hospitalised in Cairo with a "collapsed lung after pneumonia and pleurisy" before being shipped home on SS Ulimaroa, arriving home 18 April 1916.

He was discharged form the Army 21 May 1916 after serving eighteen months in the Army, of which fourteen months were spent deployed overseas.

Tuhuru was one of the well known Bannister brothers that competed and dominated in axe wood chopping competitions.

Tuhuru Bannister second from left

Tuhuru Bannister died in 1964 (aged 70), so I never met my great-uncle. He was however part of our country's history, fighting at Gallipoli, on Chunuk Bair and being part of the first Maori New Zealand Maori Contingent.

He fought with his brother James who was as a Trooper with the Canterbury Mounted Rifles. His nephew, my Papa, Stanley fought in WWII with the 28th Maori Battallion.

After Gallipoli, there was some discussion as to what was to be done with the Maori Contingent. The Poverty Bay Herald in February 1916 and April 1916, contains quotes from officers speaking to the qualities of the Maori as fighters. Eventually, when more Maori reinforcements arrived, they became the Maori Pioneer Battalion.

Update: One of the Auckland War Memorial Museum archivists contacted me with a photo of Tuhuru. This photo is taken with brothers Michael and James Mulvaney, also from Bruce Bay, the day before they shipped out in October 1916.

Update 2: His name is inscribed on the memorial wall at Waitangi

For our summer holiday 2014/15 we thought we'd tackle one of the DOC Nine Great Walks, the Whanganui Journey. We packed the car on Boxing Day night and headed South from Auckland to Taumaranui, where we met Karen and Ronny at Taumaranui Canoe Hire. We unloaded and set up camp at their place on Saturday night.

Fish and chips for dinner before we hit the river the next day

Taumaranui Canoe Hire gave us a thorough briefing on how to navigate the river, paddle a canoe and stay safe.

A couple of cool dudes listen to the briefing

We put all of our gear into ten 20 litre barrels and a couple of dry bags. We split our big tent up into two bags to spread the weight.

After a bit of instruction and a couple of test paddles up and down the river at basecamp, we set off down the Whanganui.

We were in a convoy of two Canadian canoes, a kayak and a 'dickie seat' so that Benjamin and Joseph could take turns paddling and resting.

We successfully negotiated our first set of rapids about ten minutes into the trip. After about 45 minutes we hit the second set. Jules and I sped into the rapid and then swerved and the nose of our canoe hit the bank. We spun around 180 degrees and were backwards in the rapid; There was nothing else to do but paddle furiously backwards until we hit the calm water. Joseph capsized the kayak, but managed to get back in further down the river. We didn't realise at the time, but that was to be the most difficult rapid on the river - and we did it backwards!!

Our first day paddling was 36km and we finished in about 5 hours. We set up camp at Poukaria.

Dinner first night was sausages, powdered mash potatoes and dried peas. Surprisingly tasty!

Day two was 32km (another 5 hours) to Mangapapa. Just as we started putting the tent up, we heard booms of thunder. We got the tent up just in time to keep everything dry as the heavens opened and it poured with rain. It turned out to be quite a short storm and after an hour or so, dried up. We met five tourists from France, Germany and Canada who were travelling the Te Araroa Trail. They arrived in the middle of the rain... Dinner was tinned butter chicken and rice.

We really started to get into our rhythm and learned how to swap Benjamin and Joseph from the kayak to the canoe while drifting down the river.

My view for five days

The scenery down the river was spectacular. Day three was scheduled to be a six hour paddle, 36km to Mangawaiiti camp, however the river was flowing quite fast from the rain the night before, so we only spent about 4 /12 hours on the water which was quite good. We stopped for lunch at Whakahoro which was the last road access befor we entered the Whanganui National Park. Mangawaiiti camp site was up quite a steep track, but was very scenic, set in the bush. Pasta and tomato sauce for dinner.

Card game underway

There was a group of ten that joined us at Mangawaiiti along with our 'TA' friends.

Canoes parked up for the night

Day four saw us on the river again for a 19.5km paddle. The wind was in our faces a lot of the day which made some of the paddling feel a little 'uphill'.

The river was mostly in a canyon, with occasional streams and waterfalls flowing into it. The flat parts were relatively easy to paddle, but we had to 'follow the bubbles' to make sure we were in the fastest flowing water.

Duck!!

We stopped at Mangapurua landing and walked 40 minutes through the bush to the Bridge to Nowhere. This was built in 1936 for settlers, but by 1942 the valley was abandoned.

Our last night on the river was spent at Tieke Kainga. New Years Eve was a rainy affair (rice risotto with pumpkin for dinner), in bed by 10:30. We did however wake for fireworks from the lodge across the river at midnight.

Our last day was a short paddle to Pipiriki.

We had one stop at the 'mud caves' and the boys went for an explore.

The bus came and picked us up at Pipiriki and drove us back to base at Taumaranui. Fresh cupcakes and juice was a nice touch (camera battery flat, so no photos ...)

After some deliberation, we decided that we'd have another go at tackling the Tongariro Alpine Crossing. We stayed another night in the tent at the Tongariro Holiday Park. A bus transfer took us to the start.

The Crossing is a 19.km hike through a spectacular volcanic plateau. It was very busy when we walked it on 2 January - there must have been well over a thousand people on the track so it was pretty crowded for the first hour - after that it spread out and walking became a little easier.

We walked through the South Crater and up the Devils Staircase to the Red Crater.

Anton and Thomas raced ahead to a side path to the summit of Tongariro. The rest of us carried on to the Emerald Lakes where we met them again and stopped for lunch.