A service on the return of the prayer book of Hone Tahitahi (a World War I Māori soldier) to Te Tai Tokerau.
Part one:
- Karanga and pohiri to Sir Paul Reeves.
- Karakia / Himene / national anthem / Titiro mai ki enei rau, ki mai kia mengia e koe (tune Whakaaria Mai/How Great Thou Art)
- Himene: Unidentified church waiata [possibly Catholic?]
- Himene: Tama ngakau marie
- Unidentified speaker - kinaki/ Me he manu rere. He says the ceremony is a very important one, to mark the return of a prayer book [which belonged to Hone Tahitahi, a Māori Contingent soldier of World War I.]
- Kaikōrero Ngapuhi kaumatua [unidentified] kinaki /Kia tata mai.
Part two:
- Kaikōrero Reverend Taki Marsden, kinaki/ Ka pine a koe.
- Kaikōrero: Right Reverend Bishop Whakahuihui Vercoe who came to support the Governor General General Sir Paul Reeves, in association with the presentation of this prayer book... Kinaki / He tu tautoko noa
- Kaikōrero: Governor-General Sir Paul Reeves.
He explains the purpose of his visit, which is to return a prayer book to the Tai Tokerau people. The prayer book was given to him by the Queen when she visited in March [1986] and she asked him to return it to the whanau. He says he looked up Hone Tahitahi's war record and found he served for three years. He is giving a copy of the records to the whanau as well. He will be visiting England shortly, and will tell the Queen he has returned the prayer book to Te Kao.
The Governor General asks a member of the Tahitahi whanau to come up and receive the prayer book.
- Himene: Pa mai nga hau pukeri nui / Au, e Ihu, tirohia.
- Waiata:Himene whakamutunga / Ma te marie.
- Blessing, Bishop Whakahuihui Vercoe
[From Hone Tahitahi's record in the Auckland Museum Cenotaph database:
Originally told in a New Zealand Herald story 26 April 1999.
Hone and brother Pita landed in Gallipoli 25 April 1915. Hone was ordered up the cliffs to cut through barbed wire, however a bullet from a Turkish defender struck him in the chest above his heart. He was knocked backwards and unconscious. Upon recovery he noticed the bullet had been stopped by his prayer book in his breast pocket. Still embedded, the bullet point rested under these words in Matthew 14:27 "Kia manwanui. Ko ahau teni, ahau e wehi" (Be of good cheer. It is I. Be not afraid).
The brothers were evacuated from Gallipoli and later served in France. Hone was badly wounded on the Western Front and sent home. Before leaving he mailed the prayer book to the London Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge. Back home the family thought the tale was a good tale. But in 1985 Bishop Edward Buckle found the prayer book, it was returned in 1986 to the then Governor General, Sir Paul Reeves, with the bullet still embedded in the pages. Inscriptions inside from Hone Tahitahi and an officer and chaplain verifying his lucky escape. An ANZAC ceremony in Te Kao, in the far north, blessed a bronze plaque and a replica Maori prayer book.]