The tragedy of a wasted war effort

Auckland's Queen St had its fair share of military parades during World War I but one of the more unusual was on February 4, 1916. Among the 1500 men marching that day were 140 from Niue Island in their army greatcoats, shielding them from the wet, cool conditions.

The men were part of the 3rd Maori Contingent and, along with 50 recruits from the Cook Islands, they were being sent to make up the numbers needed to maintain the Maori Contingent which had suffered heavily during the Gallipoli campaign the previous year.

What sort of experience lay ahead for these recruits from an isolated outpost of the British Empire?

Niue had become a New Zealand Protectorate in 1901. When war began in August 1914, the island had a population of around 4000, including 30 Europeans. It was the Europeans - missionaries, administrators and traders - who felt the need to make some sort of war effort and they suggested a Niue regiment and arranged the recruitment of men and their drilling on the village greens.

The offer to provide soldiers was sent to Wellington to the Minister for the Cook and Other Islands, Maui Pomare, but no one seriously believed the offer would be accepted. Niue was isolated, shipping was sporadic and news of the war very sketchy.

A year after the offer of troops was made, word arrived saying the Niue Regiment was to prepare for shipment to New Zealand.

Pomare had taken up the offer because he was finding it so difficult to recruit enough reinforcements to maintain numbers in the Maori Contingent. He had argued in Parliament for the creation of this contingent, believing it would show Pakeha that Maori were prepared to make the same sacrifices and were therefore entitled to the same rights and privileges.

He won this argument in the House but found it harder to convince those in his own electorate of Western Maori where land confiscations had been greatest. As the casualty lists lengthened, the pool of volunteers decreased, and in an effort to maintain the Maori Contingent, Pomare called in the offers from Niue and the Cook Islands.

The 140 men brought south to New Zealand had never left the island before. Seventy-three of them were married and 30 left behind families of one to four children. One family farewelled four sons; at least seven families farewelled two sons each. The departure was accompanied by many tears and much sadness.

After a rough passage, the men arrived at Devonport where they were met by members of Auckland's small Niuean community. They were assembled on Calliope Wharf and marched to their new home, Narrow Neck Military Camp, or Nalo Neke as it became known in Niuean.

Over four months the Niue Islanders underwent training at Nalo Neke. Their training camp was small. Built hastily after the outbreak of war, it was designed to hold 400 men. At Trentham, by contrast, the number of men in training was greater than the population of Niue.

Most of the Niueans spoke no English. They found the army clothing restrictive and the boots were impossible for those used to walking barefoot on the coral island. The food was difficult to digest and soon caused illness. The Army was forced to rethink their dietary needs and fish replaced most of the meat allowance.

But their greatest problem was their lack of immunity to European diseases. Measles and similar common complaints were unknown on Niue and the real danger lay in the secondary, especially respiratory, infections that often followed the onset of illness.

On Christmas Day, 1915, the first of the Niueans died of pneumonia and was buried at O'Neills Point Cemetery. Others were too ill to continue with training and were held in hospital until a ship went to Niue. It was mid-May before news of the first death reached the island.

In February 1916 the Niue Islanders were ready for service and took part in a march down Queen St and were no doubt overawed by the patriotic fervour of their farewell.

In the next six months they were bewildered, displaced and isolated. They were sent to Egypt where the New Zealand Expeditionary Force was regrouping after its withdrawal from Gallipoli. The men joined in the training in the desert but soon the order came to go to Northern France to provide support on the Western Front.

The Niueans were part of a Pioneer Battalion working at night to maintain a network of trenches in the mud.

During this time the Niueans suffered terribly from illness and men had to go to hospital constantly. From the moment of arrival at Suez, this process of separation meant the Niueans were never again together as a group.

By late May 1916, 82 per cent of them had been hospitalised. Some recovered and were returned to duty, some were sent home by hospital ship, some were transferred to other hospitals and several died. There are Niuean graves at Suez and Tel-el-Kebir in Egypt and at Bailleul in France.

Mercifully, the army authorities made the decision to withdraw the Niueans from Northern France and assemble them at the New Zealand Convalescent Hospital in Hornchurch, England, where they could be cared for before sailing to New Zealand. The people of Hornchurch still tend the graves of the four Niueans who are buried there.

The Niue Regiment was gradually returned to Auckland and accommodated in convalescent hospitals in Epsom and Devonport or admitted to Auckland Hospital. Five men died at sea on the way to New Zealand and another two died after arriving in Auckland and were buried at Waikumete Soldiers Cemetery.

Gradually the men were returned to Niue where the welcome was tinged with sadness for those who had been lost. As the Resident Commissioner said in his annual report for 1918: "There is the sadness of lonely Niuean graves in countries the names of which were hardly known hitherto."

Today descendants of the men from the Niue Regiment commemorate their contribution with Anzac Day services each year in Niue and Auckland. The sadness of the story is tempered by a pride that their men participated.

One young Niuean Aucklander Maree Webster has spoken of the tears she shed on learning the story of her grandfather. She also thinks of the men who were buried in foreign countries where no family could ever visit their graves. How sad that is for their families and for Niue.

She does, however, feel an immense pride in the Niue soldiers and hopes that one day she can use the skills learnt while studying for a Bachelor of Performing Arts at Unitec, to tell the Niue story, perhaps on film.

Participation in World War I marked a point of contact with the outside world that changed Niue forever. The journey to war and back remains an extraordinary story of ordinary men caught up in the madness of that war to end all wars.

* Margaret Pointer lived on Niue for three years in the late 1990s. Her book on Niuean participation in World War I, My Heart is Crying a Little, was published by the Institute of Pacific Studies.