Tā Robert ‘Bom’ Gillies has been laid to rest following a moving funeral service that saw thousands descend on to Te Papaiouru Marae, Ōhinemutu, in Rotorua to pay their final respects.
The 99-year-old was the last surviving member of the 28th Māori Battalion and was given a send-off that acknowledged both sides of his whakapapa from Te Arawa and Tākitimu waka, as well as his military background.
After the service, Tā Bom was carried from the mahau of the whare across the marae ātea to St Faith’s Anglican Church for a brief visit.
He was then placed on a gun carriage and, after a three-shot gun salute acknowledging the passing of the last Māori Battalion member, was marched down a short distance to Tunohopu whare. A beloved white Bedford van waited to take him to his final resting place, Kauae Cemetery, for burial.
During a warm and humorous eulogy, mokopuna Te Whanoa Gillies shared personal anecdotes that spoke of his grandfather’s humble nature, explaining wryly that his tangi was everything “that he didn’t want”.
“The honours, the tributes, the speeches, the poroporoaki that finished at 3am … the marae, it was everything that koro dodged as he was very humble and never wanted to steal the limelight from his brothers of the two-eight.”
He said Tā Bom thought there were others more deserving of the honours that were bestowed upon him, “those who didn’t come home, and those who laid at the cemeteries across Aotearoa”.
“It was lonely for him being the last man standing, but it had to be someone, and that someone was him,” said Gillies.
He said his koro’s health declined over the last few months after being involved in a car accident. Up until then, he was sharp, strong and fiercely independent.
“Still driving. Still climbing scaffolds. Building fences.”
Link to the past
For many, Tā Bom was a physical link to the Māori Battalion, and Gillies said people thought of his koro “as a window to the past to their own koros [sic] and nans”.
Likewise, kaikōrero Kingi Biddle said that ‘Uncle Bom’ would often share his memories with those whānau members who went to visit him.
“People would come to him and talk with him about their uncles, and for two-and-a-half hours he would regale them with memories of that particular koroua so clear and so vivid that it was like that koroua was sitting right in front of them.”
Staying connected to Waimarama
Tā Bom grew up and lived in Te Arawa, but he also whakapapa to Waimārama in the Hawke’s Bay — Ngāti Kahungunu iwi, Tākitimu waka.
It was a connection he kept alive for his uri, and it showed throughout the tangihanga as speakers from both sides shared the responsibility of upholding the paepae.
“Having Kahungunu and Te Arawa working together on the marae here has made it much easier for us of the whānau,” said Gillies.
He acknowledged his Te Arawa relations for making space and allowing both sides of Tā Bom’s whakapapa to represent. “We felt our Waimarama side here as well as Te Arawa.”
Glossary
whakapapa – genealogy
waka – traditional canoe
mahau – porch, veranda
whare(nui) – house (meeting house)
marae ātea – courtyard of the marae
mokopuna – grandchild/ren
tangi(hanga) – funeral
poroporoaki – farewell, eulogy
koro/koroua – grandfather, elderly male
kaikōrero – speaker, orator
uri – descendant
paepae – ceremonial orators’ bench