“He used to, as a teenager, walk around with a tape recorder and a microphone and record the old people singing, talking. And he retained lots of those recordings,” he said.
“That kind of set his life on a course of being a historian.”
At events such as birthdays, Patrick would “always” come with a decades-old photo, recording or video “that nobody’s ever seen before”.
His “vast knowledge” meant he could reconnect people with their identity and their whakapapa - one of his “superpowers,” Koro said.
During his tangi, held at the Tawhitinui marae in Ōmokoroa on Tuesday, Koro said there were many attendees “whose lives have just been turned around because he’s opened up doors that were never opened to them before”.
“He was never shy to share knowledge, and that’s a big thing in te ao Māori [the Māori world] because traditionally, an old Pākehā proverb is ‘knowledge is power’, and our old tohunga [experts], they used to hold that knowledge because it gave them more power, more authority.
“But one thing about Uncle Patrick is, he’s like a disseminator of information.”
Koro said Patrick led a “very strong campaign” during the controversial Pare Hauraki settlement claim process, when a collective of Hauraki tribes claimed mana whenua status in Tauranga Moana.
He said Patrick found the people of Hauraki had mana in Tauranga Moana through their Ngāti Ranginui connections, rather than through Hauraki connections.
In his view: “That was a really awesome way of saying it because it doesn’t belittle them - it still means that they can have their mana, they can have their status, but they are actually our cousins through Ngāti Ranginui. And that was a little bit different to how our iwi governing bodies were approaching the claim.”
Koro said Patrick was not an official iwi or hapū representative and led as his own entity with the backing of “thousands” of people who signed petitions to support his whakapapa-based claims.
Nicholas said Patrick’s “best superpower” was he always turned up at the right time for kai.
“We might have kai at 5pm one night and he turns up at 4.55pm. And the next night, without any communications, we’re having a late dinner because something happened, then he’ll turn up just in time for kai.”
Ngāti Ranginui iwi chairman Charlie Rahiri said Patrick had offered “so much” knowledge and always shared it.
Rahiri attended his tangi and said many tributes were dedicated to Patrick’s work.
“I think he’s contributed to a huge amount of the unity and the pursuit for unity with Tauranga Moana.”
His greatest legacy would be the “wealth of knowledge” left for the younger generation.
“We can’t let his legacy just rest with him.”
Rahiri said such knowledge included retracing their heritage through their waka, which helped bring people together and create a space for discussion.
He would be “greatly missed” throughout Tauranga and by his iwi connections.
Tuapiro marae chairman Shaan Kingi said the loss of Patrick was “a big void to fill” and he would be remembered for his work with settlement claims.
“He still continued the fight [by] putting his own Waitangi Tribunal claim in against other iwi coming into Tauranga ... We saw him as the gateway and as the protector for, in particular, our area in the north.
“He was a passionate advocate and a fighter for Tauranga Moana… his work is going to be sorely missed.”
