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Final Rank:

Private

First Name/s (as per enlistment record)

Manavaroa

Last Name or Only Name Given (as per enlistment record)

MATAU

Service Number and Regiment/Unit/Corps

16/1189
New Zealand Maori Pioneer Battalion, 1st Rarotongan Contingent

Also Known As

Matau MANAVAROA

Date of Birth

28/06/1895

Place of Birth

Rarotonga, Cook Islands

Date of Death

29/08/1916

Place of Death

France

Death Registration Number

NZ1918/33166
(post war death registration)

Headstone/Grave Location

Grave location: Wimereux Communal Cemetery, Pas-de-Calais, France

Memorial headstone location: Arorangi Cook Islands Christian Church grounds, Rarotonga, Cook Islands

Next of Kin

Manavaroa (father), Arorangi, Rarotonga

Additional Information

Enlisted 30 September 1915 and disembarked at Suez from SS Navua 15 March 1916. Embarked for France from Port Said 9 April 1916. Admitted to 2nd Australian General Hospital, Wimereux 18 August 1916 with pneumonia and on 21 August 1916 was put on the dangerously ill list. Died in France 29 August 1916. Buried at Wimereux Communal Cemetery and his headstone records his surname as Matau. Private MATAU 16/1189 also has a memorial military headstone at the Arorangi CICC churchyard in Rarotonga.

Commonwealth War Graves Commission commemoration:
https://www.cwgc.org/find-records/find-war-dead/casualty-details/84350/manavaroa-matau/
"Son of Manavaroa and Maki, of Arorangi, Rarotonga, Cook Islands."

Images and Documents (click on images to enlarge)

Image Credits and References

France headstone image credit: https://www.nzwargraves.org.nz/casualties/manavaroa-matau

​Further Links

N/A

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