In memory of a great Maori advocate

Hana Romana Waitai Murray (known as Saana) QSM CNZM 1925 - 2011

Maunga Piko te Maunga

Waitanoni te Wairere

Kapo Wairua te Kainga

nga tupuna e

WHANAU, whanaunga and friends will gather at Kapo Wairua (Spirits Bay) on Saturday for the dedication of memorial stones (mo nga Tohu Whakamaumaharatanga) for Hana (Saana) Murray, one of Maoridom's great advocates, and her son Rapine (Rob) Murray.

Hana Romana Waitai (Saana) Murray QSM, CNZM, Maunga Piko te maunga, Waitanoni te wairere, Kapo Wairua te kainga, born in 1925, died in Kaitaia on September 3, 2011, her whanau saying it had taken time to rise above grief for her story to be told.

Her father, Rapine Romana (later Apotoro Rehita/Registered Minister), not wanting to leave his wife Ngaio Romana (nee Subritzky), who was almost due to deliver their first child, took her with him on the mail delivery boat. The call came, the boat moored along the bank of the Waitiki River, and Hana, a local kuia renowned for her expertise with Rongoa and Matauranga Maori, was entrusted to assist the birthing of Hana Blanche Romana/Norman under the shelter of the puriri trees.

Saana went everywhere with her parents and extended whanau, and later her siblings (eventually numbering 13), growing kumara, corn and potatoes at Kapo Wairua, gathering kaimoana all around the shores of Muriwhenua, digging gum and mustering stock on their tribal lands. Everyone helped, and the crops and seafood sustained them and others at Te Hapua.

On leaving school she began training as a nurse, but left to marry Tupari (Bundy) Waitai, just returned from Monte Cassino, where he served with the Maori Battalion. They built a home in Kaitaia and Bundy began a cartage business with his brother Sandy. He was killed in a road accident near Kaitaia, aged 31, leaving Saana widowed with five children.

She later married Nicholas (Sam) Murray, son of local farmer and businessman Scotty and Erana Murray (Whangape). For many years they lived, worked and raised their family in Auckland, but she was widowed again when Sam died in 1983.

During their time in Auckland Saana was asked to teach Maori studies classes at Hillary College, which she did for some years, and in 1970 she persuaded the Auckland Regional Council to exempt wahi tapu in Mt Wellington from development.

She protested on the steps of Parliament for Maori rights alongside Tama Poata and the Maori Organisation on Human Rights, and in 1972 her first publication ("Te Karanga a Te Kotuku/The call of the White Heron") outlined Ngati Kuri struggle for lands from a Maori perspective in a contemporary framework. She wrote letters and made submissions to anyone who would listen, and expressed her pain, joys, aroha and tumanako in her poems and the photos by her photographer friend Sally Symes, reflecting the challenges and battles, Saana, her whanau and hapu endured.

In 1975 she was in the frontline as the Land March left Te Hapua.

Saana maintained her links with Te Hapua, and attended the sitting of the Maori Land Court there in 1964 when Judge Gillanders Scott drafted out 41 residential sites for those present and those in residence, then declaring the balance of the 14,000 acres as Lot 42 of the Te Hapua 42 Incorporation.

Saana had warned many shareholders in Auckland to go to the meeting, even organising a bus, but too few could afford the time off work. When they did return it was to find that their papakainga and sections had been converted to paper shares, and the management committee had to operate according to the Incorporation Act.

Later Saana served on the management committee, with responsibility for housing, but with no sewerage, roads or finance it was impossible to develop a housing scheme. She was subsequently responsible for forming Tu Kotahi, which successfully placed a restraining injunction on the Te Hapua 42 Incorporation to prevent it from exchanging Kapo Wairua and nearby lands with Northern Pulp and the Crown.

She formed a friendship with the DSIR's Dr Oliver Sutherland, who initiated trial crops of peanuts and pineapples as a counter to afforestation, highlighting the need to conserve and increase traditional resources for weaving (flax, pingao, kiekie, hoihere, raupo and kakaho).

The Te Hapua Traditional Arts and Crafts Trust was formed, the first tutor, Nanny Neta Paraone, giving her time to assist and tutor the mokopuna me nga whaea nga wahine o Te Hapua to harvest korari, prepare and weave beautiful kete; no NZQA standards required, only tikanga Maori. The first exhibition of Maori flax weaving was held in June 1981 at the Outreach Arts Centre, Auckland.

Saana was a political activist, an innate conservationist, a dedicated wife, mother and grandmother, and a catalyst for change and progress. All her life she worked ceaselessly for her iwi/people with limited resources. She was a published author and poet, song-writer, a weaver and nurturer of all flora and fauna.

Her last public appearance was at Te Ohaki Marae, Ahipara, on July 2, 2011, to hear the Waitangi Tribunal deliver its findings on the WAI262 claim, of which she was one of the initiating claimants in 1991. The claim came to be known as the Native Flora and Fauna claim and spanned 20 years, embracing all New Zealanders.

An instinctive conservationist and defender of Maori land rights, Saana inherited her deep knowledge of her traditional Ao Maori from her parents and her kaumatua and kuia. She fulfilled the role of kaitiaki, and was one of the most consistent, persistent, visionary women of her time.

Throughout her 86 years she maintained her beliefs unswervingly, never faltering, her entire life of protest and kaitiakitanga culminating with the WAI 262 claim, which benefited not only her own Ngati Kuri tribe at Te Hapua but all tribes throughout Aotearoa, and all New Zealanders in general.

Saana died exactly two months after the Tribunal's report at Ahipara. She fought the fine fight to the end.

Heavy tollShe is survived by 10 of her 13 children, the loss of her youngest, Rapine, exactly a year before she herself died, taking a heavy toll on her. Sometimes her biggest headache, he was also her biggest supporter when it came to protest, kaitiakitanga and the Waitangi Treaty claims.

He had a special rapport with troubled youths, and was part of the group that set up Kaitaia Safer Communities. He also had a gift for entertaining people, and in 1992 he and his wife Mata set up their off the beaten track mini tours on the tribal lands of Muriwhenua.

Always seeking an opportunity to better himself, he ventured into the honey business, but succumbed to his final illness without seeing its full potential. The Murray whanau are well established apiarists today thanks to Rob.

He had a special bond with all nephews and nieces, and would often tell his stories of Super Hori, and, too late for himself, inspired the whanau to better their health and wellbeing. Since his death in 2010 the whanau have gathered bi-annually at Kapo Wairua for the Super Hori Whanau Challenge.