Te Matua Taua o Ngati Hine, set up for the Waitangi Tribunal hearings at Pipiwai last year, performs a rousing haka powhiri as the casket is carried on to Takapuna Wahi Tapu yesterday. Photo / Peter de Graaf
Te Matua Taua o Ngati Hine, set up for the Waitangi Tribunal hearings at Pipiwai last year, performs a rousing haka powhiri as the casket is carried on to Takapuna Wahi Tapu yesterday. Photo / Peter de Graaf
Just before Erima Henare was laid to rest, his son, Peeni Henare, urged people to keep te reo Maori alive in honour of the many years his father dedicated to ensuring the language's survival.
The Samoan Head of State, Tui Atua Tupua Tanaesse Efi, and his wife, a delegation fromthe Cook Islands and a number of politicians were among a crowd of around 600 who gathered at Motatau Marae yesterday to pay their respects to the highly-regarded academic and Ngati Hine leader.
A crowd of about 600 people gathered at Motatau Marae to say their final goodbyes to Erima Henare.
Mr Henare died last Wednesday night at 62. He was an adviser to the Maori King, head of the Maori Language Commission and a leading authority on the history, reo and tikanga of Te Tai Tokerau.
Master carver Te Warihi Hetaraka, Peeni Henare and National MP Hekia Parata were some of the speakers to korero at the service, held for Mr Henare before he was carried to Takapuna Wahi Tapu to be buried.
Peeni Henare said, in his mihi, one of his father's biggest desires for his people was that they speak te reo Maori and that they do their part in its revitalisation and preservation.
He said he hoped that te reo Maori would be heard at all gatherings and encouraged people to speak te reo Maori to ensure its survival.
Erima Henare's son and Labour MP, Peeni Henare, talks about his father's desire to ensure te reo Maori is kept alive. Photo / Michael Cunningham
Ms Parata recalled the last time she was at Motatau Marae, when she accompanied then Prime Minister David Lange to pay respects to Sir James Henare, Mr Henare's father, in 1989.
"We come again here at this time to make those same acknowledgments to his son Erima. Who, in his own particular way, has made significant contributions to his own people Ngati Hine, to the north in general, and to the country," she said.
A taiaha held by one of the men who led Erima Henare out of Motatau Marae with a haka.
Ms Parata said she met Mr Henare when they both served in Foreign Affairs. Mr Henare was in Los Angeles and Ms Parata was in Washington DC.
"We'd have free lines between embassies in the US. The phone would go and I would pick it up very formally, 'Hekia Parata, kia ora, New Zealand Embassy' and then this rumbling bass tone would come over the line 'ko koe tena te putiputi o Ngati Porou' (you are the flower of Ngati Porou)," she laughed.
Among the many other mourners were National MP Paula Bennett, Northland MP Shane Reti, Te Tai Tokerau MP Kelvin Davis, Green Party MP David Clendon, Labour's Su'a William Sio, Hone Harawira, ex-MP and adviser to the Maori King Tukoroirangi Morgan, Waitangi Tribunal judge Craig Coxhead and a roll call of kaumatua and kui.
Mr Henare was taken to Takapuna Wahi Tapu, where he was finally laid to rest.
