Te Kirihaehae Te Puea Herangi
Te Puea's inspiration became more firmly recognised among Tainui people throughout
the First World War, when she led the Maori people’s disapproval to the
government's conscription policy for many reasons.
She understood the sense of alienation that the military invasion, occupation and confiscation of land had forced upon the people, and understood, too, that the Kingitanga held the key to reinstating their sense of purpose. Te Puea was guided all her life by Tawhiao's (the second Maori King and Te Pueas grandfather). Throughout the war she drew on Tawhiao's words forbidding Waikato to take up arms again after he had finally made his peace with the Crown in 1881. She stood strong with those men who did not to participate in a war that was not theirs, on behalf of a government that had expelled and scattered their people. But the government was irritated with what it saw as disobedience and disloyalty, and compounded Tainui feelings of injustice by conscripting Maori only from the Waikato–Maniapoto district.
At this problematic time Te Puea's leadership and guidance was of great importance to Tainui. The restoration of the Pai Marire faith, brought to Waikato from Taranaki by Tawhiao, helped to strengthen the people. Te Puea voiced her own opposition to conscription in specially composed songs such as 'E huri ra koe', 'Kati nei e te iwi te kumekume roa' and 'Nga ra o Hune ka ara te pakanga', and gathered together the men liable for conscription at Te Paina (the pa she had rebuilt at Mangatawhiri) to care for them. They were balloted in groups in 1918, then arrested and taken to Narrow Neck training camp at Auckland, where they were exposed to severe military punishments and penalties if they refused to wear uniform. Te Puea would travel north and sit outside where the men could see her from time to time; it gave them much-needed inspiration and reassurance.
She understood the sense of alienation that the military invasion, occupation and confiscation of land had forced upon the people, and understood, too, that the Kingitanga held the key to reinstating their sense of purpose. Te Puea was guided all her life by Tawhiao's (the second Maori King and Te Pueas grandfather). Throughout the war she drew on Tawhiao's words forbidding Waikato to take up arms again after he had finally made his peace with the Crown in 1881. She stood strong with those men who did not to participate in a war that was not theirs, on behalf of a government that had expelled and scattered their people. But the government was irritated with what it saw as disobedience and disloyalty, and compounded Tainui feelings of injustice by conscripting Maori only from the Waikato–Maniapoto district.
At this problematic time Te Puea's leadership and guidance was of great importance to Tainui. The restoration of the Pai Marire faith, brought to Waikato from Taranaki by Tawhiao, helped to strengthen the people. Te Puea voiced her own opposition to conscription in specially composed songs such as 'E huri ra koe', 'Kati nei e te iwi te kumekume roa' and 'Nga ra o Hune ka ara te pakanga', and gathered together the men liable for conscription at Te Paina (the pa she had rebuilt at Mangatawhiri) to care for them. They were balloted in groups in 1918, then arrested and taken to Narrow Neck training camp at Auckland, where they were exposed to severe military punishments and penalties if they refused to wear uniform. Te Puea would travel north and sit outside where the men could see her from time to time; it gave them much-needed inspiration and reassurance.