Pat Magill’s last hīkoi

The scenes on Pat Magill's final hīkoi through the Napier streets he loved. Photo / Warren Buckland

Pat Magill loved his hīkoi.

So it was fitting that two days after he died he was out on another day as his casket was carried the 1.1km from his “office in the street” at the Maraenui Shopping Centre to Pukemokimoki Marae on Tuesday.

It was a procession, not that he would have ever called it that, that took over the left-hand lane of Bledisloe Rd as it headed to the marae off Riverbend Rd.

Family were joined by an eclectic mix, ranging from a couple of former MPs, from each side of the blue and red hues, to Mongrel Mob members and rangatahi who’d known “Matua Pat” or “Uncle Pat” all their lives.

Called onto the marae about 10am, on an overcast morning with some sunshine just beating the threat of rain, there was the traditional wero.

Veteran social justice campaigner Pat Magill OBE, who died on Sunday, aged 96, carried on Bledisloe Rd on his final hīkoi to his tangihanga at Pukemokimoki Marae. Photo / Warren Buckland

Across the face of the front of the wharenui, Omio, were children of Maraenui Bilingual School, many also from families whose lives had been touched over many decades by Pat Magill OBE.

Magill, born in 1926 and aged 96 when he passed surrounded by his own family at home in Westshore on Sunday morning, was brought inside with a pōwhiri, for a tangi which ends with a final service starting on the marae at 11am on Wednesday, followed by the last journey for private cremation.

Along the way, Phil Jensen, a former freezing worker who became a barrister and a longtime supporter of the Magill kaupapa, noted that in all his time in Hawke’s Bay, he’d never seen a local honoured with such a walk.

Pat Magill died in Napier on Sunday. Photo / NZME

Only Pat, he would say, a simple recognition of the manner in which Magill sought peace, harmony and the right for everyone to have an equal chance.

In the Maraenui area, Magill would call in to see the whānau, helping them in such circumstances as when key members had gone to jail, he would call at the gang pad, and he would in his latter years take up that office on the street, to listen and make sure everyone was doing ka pai.

Pat Magill's kaupapa was beloved by many in Napier/Ahuriri. Photo / Warren Buckland

When necessary, he would take matters to the council, even to Parliament, and he would take up a presence in courtrooms in looking out for others.

Just like Jensen, Mat Eru would say, as he set the short hīkoi on its way “who else but Pat” would set up “an office on the street” and front up each week to listen to the problems and ponder what he could do about them.

It was Jensen who commented in the book Pat Magill – Leading from the Front, edited by Jes Magill: “Pat Magill – corrupting the halls of power with his goodness”.