He māngai mō te reo Māori, he pou mō te mātauranga me te whenua Māori nā reira i ea ai ngā kereme o Waitaha nōnā e tohe ana ki te Kawanatanga mō ngā whakataunga a Te Tiriti o Waitangi. Ka tanumia tō tātau ruruhi ki Te Puke kia takoto ake ai ia me tōna hoa rangatira a Tame McClausland.
Ko Ngamaru, he toa nō te ao pouaka whakaata. He mātanga reo, he pūkenga tikanga nō Mataatua e whai pānga hoki ki a Te Arawa me Tainui waka. Ko ētehi o āna pukenga i kawea ki ngā hōtaka rongonui o Aotearoa. Ko Mataku tētehi, ko Shortland Street me te kiriata Māori nei a Whale Rider.
Nā te mea he tohunga ki te tuhituhi nāna hoki ngā ture me te taha ki te tikanga i whakatakoto hai arahi i te motu me ngā rangatira o te ao pouaka whakaata ki te kawe tika i te mana o tatou te Māori ki roto ki ngā mahi o te whakangāhau pouaka whakaata.
Ko tāna he āta poipoi me te whakatūwhera i ngā ngākau o ngā ringa tohu me ngā pou whakahaere ki ngā kaupapa Māori pēnei me te tangihanga me te kangakanga.
Kia mārama kehokeho rātau ki te mana nui o ēnei mea. ' He ahakoa he mea waihanga noa iho te hōtaka, kia tika tonu koe ki te kawe i te whakaaro o te mahi, ara ko te nehu ko te tanu tupapaku. Ka oti ana i a kotou te wāhanga o te kiriata, e pūare tonu ana te rua kōiwi’. Ka nui hoki te whakamomori o te ngākau o Takuta Laurie Morrison tā te mea i rehitangia a Ngamaru mō te whakataetae hākinakina o te ao ka tū ā te wiki hou. Ka nui te mamae o te tinana.
Engari anō a Punohu. He tou tīrairaka, raka te māui, raka te matau. He kanohi kitea, he reo kaha, he ngākau māhaki, ahakoa te kaupapa. I mōhio rānei koe i tae āna mahi ki te Rūnanga nui whakakotahi i ngā iwi o te Ao. He whakapono nōna ki te kaha o te mātauranga hai waka kawe i a tātau te Māori ki te ao marama. Nā rāua tokorua ko Pem Bird a Te Akatea i whakaara, ara, ko Te New Zealand Māori Principals Association i te tau kotahi 1989 – 1991.
Nāna me te Kaunihera o ngā mahita te tono ki te Rūnanga whakakotahi i ngā iwi o te Ao ki te whakaaraara i te whakaputanga o ngā tikanga o ngā iwi taketake o te ao. Ka kōkiringia tēnei kaupapa i runga i te waka o te mātauranga e kaha tupu haere ana i raro i te marumaru o te kaupapa, Tomorrow’s Schools. Koia hoki tētehi e kaha tautoko ana i te kaupapa auahi kore ki roto ki ngā hāpori o te motu e kaha ake ai ngā iwi katoa.
Nā tona whakapau kaha ka ara ake ko te kaupapa hauora Māori mō te Bay of Plenty District Health Board, ā, ko Toi Ora. Ka whakawhiwhia hoki i a ia ki te tohu ANZ Gen-I Public Sector Excellence Award mō te whakakaha i te herenga rangatira i waenga i a tātau te Māori me te Karauna. Nā te mea ko Punohu hoki te tiamana o te waka Whānau Ora ka wawe kē tana aro ki te whakakore i te momi hikareti i te iwi Māori i mua tonu o te tau e rua mano, e rua tekau mā rima te tau.
Ko te titiro mātua ki a hāngai pū te aroha ki ngā whāmere, kauaka e whakahurirapangia. Ka tūtaki i a au a Punohu me Tame McClausland i ngā tau e ono tekau o mua noa atu. E noho nā au me taku kuia a Miria me taku koroua a Henare Potaka i tō rāua pāmu i Maketu.
Ko te taokete o Mari ka moe i a Mohi. He tamatāne a Mohi nā taku koroua, kai Manoeka ia. He ahakoa ka huri ngā tau kāore mātau i tūtakitaki ā kanohi engari ko oku taina a Roku me Watu, ka nui tā rātau noho tahi.
E tangi apakura nei ahau i te korenga o ēnei tokorua rangatira. I āta whakarongo ki aku pātai huhua, he aroha nui hoki ki ngā kurī. Nō reira kai aku rangatira ngā pou kaiāwha o ngā whare teitei o ngā kaumatua, ngā puna o te kōrero ngā makao taniwha, kua parangia ngā tini huarahi mā muri e whai. Nō reira haere atu rā.
- Na Raimona Inia i whakamaori
English Translation
Our kaumatua community over the wider Waiariki district lost two of its most distinguished members this week: Ngamaru Raerino and Vervies Punohu McCausland.
Ngamaru, aged 79, died at his home on Sunday. He was taken to Tarimano then returned to his people at Tuteao Marae, Te Teko, where he grew up.
Punohu, 85, was a fierce advocate for her people and led a life of service and duty to Maori. She held many key positions in education, health, whenua Maori, te reo me nga tikanga, and was a lead negotiator for the Waitaha Treaty of Waitangi negotiations.
She was laid to rest with the love of her life, Tame, at Te Puke.
Ngamaru is best known for his work as a screen writer for the film Whale Rider and was an expert in tikanga.
Of Mātaatua, Te Arawa and Tainui descent, he worked on film and television productions such as Mataku, Shortland Street and Whale Rider.
A prolific writer of Māori, Ngamaru established guidelines on culture and language within the film and TV industry, including how to navigate sensitive areas of te ao Māori portrayed on camera.
He had been reported as saying that one of his roles as a cultural advisor in film and TV was to educate producers and directors about tikanga Māori, particularly with tangihanga and kangakanga (curse words and insults).
“Even though it’s make-believe, the thing to remember is you are acting as if you are burying someone. When the scene is completed, the grave you excavated for the scene will still be there.”
Dr Laurie Morrison, of the Te Arawa Kaumatua Olympics, said Ngamaru had been registered for the event next week, and her team was saddened by his passing.
Few among the movers and shakers in the Western Bay of Plenty— both Maori and non-Maori — would not have known who Punohu was. She was out and about in her community involved in local matters to do with health, education, land, and fisheries.
Her work even reached the United Natioins.
Punohu believed passionately that education was essential for our people to flourish.
From her work with Pem Bird 1989-1991 was formed Te Akatea, the New Zealand Māori Principals Association.
Te Akatea and the Teaching Council made a joint submission to the United Nations which was developing an action plan being developed by the United Nations the development of and expert mechanism on the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People.
The joint submission was made at a time when Māori -medium education was growing quickly and the education landscape was changing rapidly under Tomorrow’s Schools.
She was also a driving force for iwi to see the end of smoking in our communities by 2025.
Punohu worked with organisatioins to establish the Bay of Plenty District Health Board’s Māori health initiative – Toi Ora.
Toi Ora led to significant improvement in Māori health and was the winner of the 2013 IPANZ Gen-i Public Sector Excellence Award for Crown–Māori Relationships.
The head of the Midland Iwi Relationship Board said the creation of Whanau Ora would greatly help the region meet its goal of making the region smokefree by 2025.
Chair of the Iwi organisation Punohu McCausland said Whanau Ora tied into its own aim of cutting smoking in a part of the country where smoking rates among Maori are high.
She said the service provided a family first approach meaning that services fit the family and not the whanau having to fit the service.
I met Punohu and Tame McCausland about 60 years ago when I was staying with my Kuia, Miria, and my Koro, Henare Potaka at their farm in Maketu.
Punohu’s sister-in-law Mari was married to Mohi, Koro’s son, who lives at Manoeka.
Over the years our paths did not often cross but my siblings, Watu and Roku, had many dealings with the McCauslands mainly over community wellbeing and fisheries matters.
They much admired the couple for their hard work and dedication.
As a child I liked them because they answered questions I put to them. And they liked dogs.
