Ngāi Tamarāwaho kaumatua Peri Kohu pictured in 2018. Photo / George Novak
The "substantial legacy" of Ngāi Tamarāwaho kaumatua Peri Kohu in Tauranga Moana has been acknowledged following his death on Tuesday.
Tributes are flowing from all over the city and Tauranga City Council has said that, as a mark of respect, the flag on Takitimu Drive will be at half-mast on Saturday while Kohu is laid to rest at Motuopae.
Kohu died just one week after he formally apologised for his role in the occupation of Tauranga's town hall in 1988.
Hapū kaumatua Buddy Mikaere said he had "lost his right-hand man" and Kohu's death was "a real shock".
"The morning that he died, I was talking to him... he must have died just minutes later, after that conversation."
He said Kohu was humble and "generous to a fault" with a gentle nature.
"[He was] always trying to find the right thing to do, and rather than just talking about it, actually doing it," Mikaere said.
He said Kohu would be "first in line" to support Māori issues and was "the inspiration behind a lot of Māori artwork you see around the city".
Mikaere said Kohu's advocacy had led to "the hapū being elevated so that it's acknowledged all the time as being our mana whenua hapū for this city's CBD area".
"That comes about through Peri being a constant reminder, a constant presence, across a whole lot of different projects.
"To me, that would be his most lasting legacy."
Mikaere said "his steadying presence on the marae" would be missed, and that Kohu was one of the best blues guitarists he had ever met.
Kohu would be laid to rest on Saturday at the urupā on Motuopae Island, Mikaere said.
Kohu was deputy chairperson of the Otamataha Trust, which looked after the property interests of Ngāi Tamarāwaho and Ngāti Tapu in the Tauranga CBD.
Otamataha Trust administrator Alan Tate worked with Kohu for nearly 30 years.
He would remember Kohu's "quiet dignity and the way in which he could sum up the situation and address the issues without any fuss".
"A man of not a lot of words, but when he spoke he meant something".
Tate said Kohu was the chair of Rau O Te Huia, a trust that looked after people with mental disabilities on a kaupapa Māori basis for 20 years.
"The Tauranga community as a whole owes Peri a real debt of gratitude... the way in which he has negotiated with the council on many issues has been to obtain reconciliation," Tate said.
"He's been the one who's been the calm voice of reason."
Tate said Kohu's aim was "mana over money".
"He wasn't interested in getting dollars or land back for what it's worth. His aim was to restore the mana of mana whenua in downtown Tauranga, and that's to a large degree what he's achieved."
St George's Anglican Church Reverend John Hebenton said he got to know Kohu through the Battle of Gate Pa/Pukehinahina commemorations eight years ago.
"He was a man of deep faith. He was a family man."
Hebenton said he remembered Kohu as someone "deeply passionate about his people" and what happened to them.
"He is part of a generation that heard the stories of what happened in the Battle of Gate Pa from people who heard those stories from those who were there.
"There was two degrees of separation between him and what happened 150 years ago.
"He's a holder of those stories and those stories have shaped how he's lived his life and he's worked tirelessly to right the wrongs of the past."
Hebenton also remembered Kohu as a "beautiful guitarist".
Local Government New Zealand president and former Tauranga mayor Stuart Crosby said he first met Kohu when he made a submission on roading.
"He started off by going through his whole whakapapa... right down to the original canoe that brought his ancestors here, which was quite an amazing introduction to his submission."
Crosby said Kohu would leave a "substantial legacy" as he was instrumental in facilitating interpretation panels about Māori and Pākehā history all over the city.
"My enduring memory of him will be his calmness, his ability to constantly teach as he spoke about [the] history of Tauranga Moana, particularly his rohe of Ngāi Tamarāwaho."
Crosby said he was a "brilliant" musician.
Incubator Creative Hub director Simone Anderson said the historic village was on Ngāi Tamarāwaho land and Kohu started a Whakairo [carving] space at the fire station there.
"He facilitated a lot of the really important pou [carved wooden posts] for whenua around the region from that space," Anderson said.
"He's always had a passion for art but what I appreciated so much about Peri was that he was such an approachable person."
Anderson said Kohu gave them the lease of the fire station which would be developed into a Whakairo centre.
"He was really insistent that it came under our umbrella so it could be entrusted to continue as a Whakairo space."
Anderson said he had recently given it a new name - Te Whare Toi o te Moana.
At a Tauranga City Council meeting last week, Kohu formally apologised for his role in the occupation of Tauranga's old town hall in 1988.
The occupation was fuelled by frustration as the local council considered demolishing the hall to build a new civic building. It was felt that if the council was going to knock down the building, it should return the site to its original owners, the mana whenua.
Kohu was one of five activists who barricaded themselves inside the library area of the building when police sent dogs in, resulting in a violent altercation involving paint, petrol and fire.
He served 22 months of his two-and-a-half-year jail sentence for his actions.
Kohu told last week's meeting the time was one "where passions overtook ourselves and we had decisions and different ways rather than preparing to sit at the table and work things out".
The council agreed in the meeting to keep working towards a potential partnership with Otamataha Trust for co-ownership of an area of CBD land.
Kohu said he was excited the commission had got to this stage where there was "a meaningful relationship in the form of the partnership".
Tauranga City Council chief executive Marty Grenfell said many of its people had worked with Kohu and were "all the richer for it".
"He was a relentless advocate of the rights of tangata whenua, working right up until his final breath."
Grenfell acknowledged Kohu speaking at the council meeting last week "with a moving and powerful perspective on the co-ownership of the land where our new civic precinct is to be built".
"Peri enriched the awareness and confidence of our staff to work more effectively and collaboratively with hapū and iwi."
Grenfell said staff would remember Kohu with admiration and gratitude, particularly for his passion for art and "commitment to making our city beautiful".
"His legacy will live on through the many initiatives he was part of."
He aitua, he aitua, kua tae mai te tai pouri i runga i a mātou katoa. E koro, haere, haere, okioki ai.
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