Sustainable memorial for Hawea Vercoe

The whanau of Te Kura Kaupapa Maori o Rotoiti will today unveil a memorial garden for the school’s former principal, Hawea Vercoe.

The 36-year-old was hit and killed a year ago by an Opotiki man, who is currently serving a prison term for manslaughter.

Acting principal Tammy Gardiner says the memorial, which includes a wetland beside Lake Rotoiti, shows the love the community still feels.

WI PERE BOOK IMPORTANT FOR MANA OF IWI

Maori Affairs minister Pita Sharples says a new biography of Poverty Bay leader Wi Pere is the sort of history that needs to be available in the nation's schools.

Wi Pere, from Rongowhakaata and Te Aitanga a Mahaki, represented Eastern Maori for four terms between 1884 and 1905, and spent a further five years on the legislative council.

As well as fighting to preserve Maori culture and customs, he created a sound foundation for his hapu, which is now one of the largest Maori land-based businesses.

Dr Sharples says the book by Wi Pere’s great grandson, Joseph Anaru Hetekia Te Kani Pere, is an impressive work of scholarship.

“It's very important for the mana of our iwi and we’ve got to do this with all our leaders, bring this stuff out, so when we talk about the early settlers, we’re not just talking about the Pakeha ones that came out here and did stuff but our own history which is absent from our schools,” Dr Sharples

TE KANAWA GOLDIE SETS RECORD PRICE

A growing interest in artworks with Maori subjects is being credited for the record price for a painting at auction in Auckland on Friday night.

A South Island buyer paid $573,000 for a Charles Frederick Goldie portrait of Rutene Te Uamairangi , popularly known as Forty Winks, out of the collection of Dame Kiri Te Kanawa.

Richard Thomson, the director of the International Art Centre, says there is no recession when it comes to such works.

Another work in the auction, an 1865 painting by an unknown artist of a Maori selling crayfish on the Auckland waterfront, sold for $18,000.

KEY KEEN ON WHANAU ORA CHANGE

The Prime Minister, John Key, says the launch of the first Whanau Ora centres is a pointer to the way health and social service delivery will change.

Centres were opened in Hamilton and Taumarunui last week by Toiora, a Waikato-based public health organisation funded by the Ministry of Health.

Mr Key says the focus needs to shift from treating people as isolated individuals.

“The aim is to reorient things back in the family. It’s a combination of personal responsibility, but also trying to recognise that within families it’s a complex unit and just the Crown coming in or the government coming in and dealing with one issue won’t fix all the issues that family faces,” Mr Key says.

TAURANGA MOKO SHOP A WHANAU TRADITION

Visitors to Tauranga’s Historic Village will now have the opportunity to get a traditional tattoo.

Moana Moko opened its Te Rua Moko studio on Friday, providing a permanent home for Pohe and Rikirau Luttenberger and their cousin Stu Wararahi McDonald.

Pohe Luttenberger says there are eight active ta moko artists in the whanau, and they see it as being a family tradition, with their whakapapa including many not only tohunga ta moko but tohunga whakairo or carvers.

Moana Moko expects to be inundated with work in its new home, especially in the run up to Christmas.

MILKY BAR KID A KURA KID

A Rotorua kura kaupapa student says she feels overwhelmed at being chosen the new Milky Bar Kid.

Eight year old Hinetaapora Short got more the 11,000 votes to get on the shortlist.

She’s looking forward to coming to Auckland today to film a television advertisement … and to get paid so she can go shopping.

Hinetaapora Short, who is at Te Kura o te Koutu, is fluent in Maori and she is also studying Spanish.