Awatere: A Soldier's Story

Arapeta Awatere

Huia Publishers, 2003 - Maori (New Zealand people) - 498 pages

Arapeta Awatere was a humble man born in 1910 at Tuparoa on New Zealand's East Coast; in World War II he served his country with distinction in fierce fighting, rose to the rank of colonel and led the 28 (Maori) Battalion. Post-war he became a distinguished community leader, an Auckland city councilor, an orator and a genealogist. In 1969, at the age of fifty-nine, his life shattered. He was convicted of a crime of passion - the murder of his mistress's lover - and he ended his years in prison. This book is part of his legacy: the passion, insight and pain left by an indomitable spirit and strong intellect whose life's work was nearly foundered in one night. Awatere: A Soldier's Story gathers together his autobiography, many of his poems and songs, and two essays. Readers of this book will long remember one of the great figures of twentieth-century New Zealand.

Contents

• Introduction: 1
• 293: 321
• Te: 367
• Atarban: 374
• te mokopuna: 379
• Ki a Huuhana: 385
• flowers: 388
• Horouta Waka: 394
• whakaorangia: 400
• Te whakawaa: 406
• Notes: 473

About the author

Hinemoa Awatere (Ngati Porou, Ngati Whakaue) is a poet, writer and researcher. At the time of the birth of her second child, Hinemoa decided that it was time to fulfil her lifelong ambition to publish the memoirs of her later grandfather, Col. Awatere. Hinemoa is the national director of the Kakahu Young Designers Scholarship Trust, which assists talented New Zealanders in the fashion industry.

Bibliographic information

• Title: Awatere: A Soldier's Story
• Author: Arapeta Awatere
• Editor: Hinemoa Ruataupare Awatere
• Edition: illustrated
• Publisher: Huia Publishers, 2003
• ISBN: 1877283819, 9781877283819
• Length: 498 pages