Te Ru Wharehoka tribute from MP
Tributes are flowing in for Taranaki kaumatua Te Ru Wharehoka, whose tangi is being held at Parihaka.
Te Tai Tonga MP Mahara Okeroa, a close relative, says Mr Wharehoka worked tirelessly for a wide range of Maori organisations in Taranaki and wider afield.
Mr Okeroa says growing up in Parihaka in the 1950s, Mr Wharehoka was able to learn from elders who were steeped in the prophetic resistance movement which developed in the village in the late 19th century.
“He did become recognised as a speaker of note and also someone who carried on the philosophy of Te Whiti and Tohu,” Mr Okeroa says.
Te Ru Wharehoka's tangi is at Te Niho, the house associated with the prophet Te Whiti o Rongomai.
SURPLUS SCHOOLS OCCUPIED NEAR OPUNAKE
Also in Taranaki, members of Titahi and Tama a Ahuroa hapu of Nga Ruahine are occupying two recently-closed primary schools.
The Te Kiri and Pihama schools are among 37 surplus Education properties in the province slated for eventual sale.
Titahi spokesperson Tarawara Weston says they are on land the Crown confiscated in 1863.
Mr Weston says the hapu are fed up with the way the government's treaty settlement and landbanking process works - or doesn't work.
“We're just saying, You stole the land, we believe there were schools put on that land, and now they longer use it as schools, whaka hokia, give it back in the same way as you took it. You paid nothing for it, and we don’t intend to pay anything back for it,” Mr Weston says.
The Education Ministry says the schools were offered to the Office of Treaty Settlements, which chose not to landbank them.
TE ATATU MARAE A STEP CLOSER
Backers of a planned marae on the Te Atatu peninsula are heartened by the Environment Court's decision to throw out a resource consent appeal,
Te Atatu Residents and Ratepayers Association challenged the decision of Waitakere City Council to zone two and a half hectares of Harbourview - Orangahina Park as a marae reserve.
It said the marae was an inappropriate devewlopment.
Marae supporter Haare Tukariri says the ratepayers association needs to get over its hostility to Maori ventures.
“There's been a history of protest to anything Maori on this peninsula, and the position that the court has taken attests to the fact that we have every right to be here and establish our culture on this peninsula,” Mr Tukariri says.
He says there has always a big Maori population in Te Atatu, but the nearest marae is on the other side of west Auckland.
MAORI GIRLS LEAD INCREASE IN TRUANT FIGURES
The Education Ministry's deputy secretary of early-childhood and regional education says there is no simple solution to truancy.
Rawiri Brell says the increasing rate of truancy among Maori girls is one of the biggest causes for concern in the latest statistics.
Truancy across all secondary schools jumped 5 points to 4.1 percent, with 7.1 percent of Maori girls on the wag at some time in 2006.
Truancy among Maori boys jumped from 5 percent to 6.6 percent.
Mr Brell says the ministry is trying multiple approaches, including a programme to get students more engaged in their learning.
“There's actually quite a lot of things that are in place to address those issues. It’s actually quite a complex set of causes that contribute to it, and unpicking what those are is an ongoing focus of everybody – the whanau, the schools, our work, and other agencies,” Mr Brell says.
Almost 100 schools are considering prosecuting the parents of persistent truants.
WINIATA STEPS DOWN AS RAUKAWA TUMUAKI
It’s the end of an era for Te Wananga o Raukawa as founder Whatarangi Winiata steps down as Tumuaki.
Professor Winiata, from Ngati Raukawa, has headed the Otaki based Maori education provider since 1981.
He says there is still much to be done to develop the wananga system, but that will be a job for others.
“Bible says you have about 72 years to live, and I’m just on reaching that and I figure the last few years I might go and do something else. I’ve got a lot of unfinished research projects I want to do some work on,” Professor Winiata says.
MANAHI REMEMBERED FOR HUMILITY
Te Arawa is getting ready for a right royal tribute to one of its heroes.
The tribe believes Haane Manahi was denied a Victoria Cross for his courageous attack on a German position at Takrouna Ridge in North Africa in 1943.
The Queen has now created a special acknowledgment of the late Sergeant Manahi.
The Duke of York, Prince Andrew, will be in Rotorua next week to present Te Arawa with a sword and an altar cloth from the Royal collection.
Te Arawa kaumatua Rangipuawhe Maika says it will be an opportuntiy to remember Mr Manahi, who was noted for his humility as much as his courage, even in the heat of the battle.
“One of our 28 Maori Battalion is still alive, he’s about 90. Just before he climbed Takrouna, he met Haane with some prisoners that he’d taken, and he’d given the prisoners over and then he went back. He just said he had to go back to the Germans and that was it. He didn't boast,” Mr Maika says.
Te Tai Tonga MP Mahara Okeroa, a close relative, says Mr Wharehoka worked tirelessly for a wide range of Maori organisations in Taranaki and wider afield.
Mr Okeroa says growing up in Parihaka in the 1950s, Mr Wharehoka was able to learn from elders who were steeped in the prophetic resistance movement which developed in the village in the late 19th century.
“He did become recognised as a speaker of note and also someone who carried on the philosophy of Te Whiti and Tohu,” Mr Okeroa says.
Te Ru Wharehoka's tangi is at Te Niho, the house associated with the prophet Te Whiti o Rongomai.
SURPLUS SCHOOLS OCCUPIED NEAR OPUNAKE
Also in Taranaki, members of Titahi and Tama a Ahuroa hapu of Nga Ruahine are occupying two recently-closed primary schools.
The Te Kiri and Pihama schools are among 37 surplus Education properties in the province slated for eventual sale.
Titahi spokesperson Tarawara Weston says they are on land the Crown confiscated in 1863.
Mr Weston says the hapu are fed up with the way the government's treaty settlement and landbanking process works - or doesn't work.
“We're just saying, You stole the land, we believe there were schools put on that land, and now they longer use it as schools, whaka hokia, give it back in the same way as you took it. You paid nothing for it, and we don’t intend to pay anything back for it,” Mr Weston says.
The Education Ministry says the schools were offered to the Office of Treaty Settlements, which chose not to landbank them.
TE ATATU MARAE A STEP CLOSER
Backers of a planned marae on the Te Atatu peninsula are heartened by the Environment Court's decision to throw out a resource consent appeal,
Te Atatu Residents and Ratepayers Association challenged the decision of Waitakere City Council to zone two and a half hectares of Harbourview - Orangahina Park as a marae reserve.
It said the marae was an inappropriate devewlopment.
Marae supporter Haare Tukariri says the ratepayers association needs to get over its hostility to Maori ventures.
“There's been a history of protest to anything Maori on this peninsula, and the position that the court has taken attests to the fact that we have every right to be here and establish our culture on this peninsula,” Mr Tukariri says.
He says there has always a big Maori population in Te Atatu, but the nearest marae is on the other side of west Auckland.
MAORI GIRLS LEAD INCREASE IN TRUANT FIGURES
The Education Ministry's deputy secretary of early-childhood and regional education says there is no simple solution to truancy.
Rawiri Brell says the increasing rate of truancy among Maori girls is one of the biggest causes for concern in the latest statistics.
Truancy across all secondary schools jumped 5 points to 4.1 percent, with 7.1 percent of Maori girls on the wag at some time in 2006.
Truancy among Maori boys jumped from 5 percent to 6.6 percent.
Mr Brell says the ministry is trying multiple approaches, including a programme to get students more engaged in their learning.
“There's actually quite a lot of things that are in place to address those issues. It’s actually quite a complex set of causes that contribute to it, and unpicking what those are is an ongoing focus of everybody – the whanau, the schools, our work, and other agencies,” Mr Brell says.
Almost 100 schools are considering prosecuting the parents of persistent truants.
WINIATA STEPS DOWN AS RAUKAWA TUMUAKI
It’s the end of an era for Te Wananga o Raukawa as founder Whatarangi Winiata steps down as Tumuaki.
Professor Winiata, from Ngati Raukawa, has headed the Otaki based Maori education provider since 1981.
He says there is still much to be done to develop the wananga system, but that will be a job for others.
“Bible says you have about 72 years to live, and I’m just on reaching that and I figure the last few years I might go and do something else. I’ve got a lot of unfinished research projects I want to do some work on,” Professor Winiata says.
MANAHI REMEMBERED FOR HUMILITY
Te Arawa is getting ready for a right royal tribute to one of its heroes.
The tribe believes Haane Manahi was denied a Victoria Cross for his courageous attack on a German position at Takrouna Ridge in North Africa in 1943.
The Queen has now created a special acknowledgment of the late Sergeant Manahi.
The Duke of York, Prince Andrew, will be in Rotorua next week to present Te Arawa with a sword and an altar cloth from the Royal collection.
Te Arawa kaumatua Rangipuawhe Maika says it will be an opportuntiy to remember Mr Manahi, who was noted for his humility as much as his courage, even in the heat of the battle.
“One of our 28 Maori Battalion is still alive, he’s about 90. Just before he climbed Takrouna, he met Haane with some prisoners that he’d taken, and he’d given the prisoners over and then he went back. He just said he had to go back to the Germans and that was it. He didn't boast,” Mr Maika says.
posted by Adam | 11:09 pm
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
<< Home