The Country
  • The Country home
  • Latest news
  • Audio & podcasts
  • Opinion
  • Dairy farming
  • Sheep & beef farming
  • Rural business
  • Rural technology
  • Rural life
  • Listen on iHeart radio

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • Coast & Country News
  • Opinion
  • Dairy farming
  • Sheep & beef farming
  • Horticulture
  • Animal health
  • Rural business
  • Rural technology
  • Rural life

Media

  • Podcasts
  • Video

Weather

  • Kaitaia
  • Whāngarei
  • Dargaville
  • Auckland
  • Thames
  • Tauranga
  • Hamilton
  • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua
  • Tokoroa
  • Te Kuiti
  • Taumurunui
  • Taupō
  • Gisborne
  • New Plymouth
  • Napier
  • Hastings
  • Dannevirke
  • Whanganui
  • Palmerston North
  • Levin
  • Paraparaumu
  • Masterton
  • Wellington
  • Motueka
  • Nelson
  • Blenheim
  • Westport
  • Reefton
  • Kaikōura
  • Greymouth
  • Hokitika
  • Christchurch
  • Ashburton
  • Timaru
  • Wānaka
  • Oamaru
  • Queenstown
  • Dunedin
  • Gore
  • Invercargill

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / The Country

Shearing legend Koro Mullins farewelled in Dannevirke

Hawkes Bay Today
19 Sep, 2019 10:58 PM3 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

Koro Mullins, left, was one of NZ's most well known shearing identities. Photo / File

Koro Mullins, left, was one of NZ's most well known shearing identities. Photo / File

Dannevirke's Town Hall was filled to capacity on Friday for the funeral of shearing identity, commentator, businessman and former Tararua District councillor Koro Mullins.

Mr Mullins, a former Golden Shears Open shearing finalist who for many years with wife Mavis ran major Southern Hawke's Bay employer Paewai Mullins Shearing, died in Wellington Hospital on Monday, aged 65.

Several World and golden Shears champions were among the mourners as Mr Mullins arrived on one of the town's finest days from Makirikiri Marae where he spent his last night with whanau and friends.

Reigning multiple Golden Shears and New Zealand champion and 2014 World champion Rowland Smith spoke on behalf the shearing industry and sports and Mullins' sons Punga and Tuma and daughters Korina and Aria were also speaking.

A crowd outside the Dannevirke Town Hall for Koro Mullins' funeral. Photo / Doug Laing
A crowd outside the Dannevirke Town Hall for Koro Mullins' funeral. Photo / Doug Laing
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Shearing had almost stopped for the day in parts of Hawke's Bay and other parts of the country, as the funeral took place with those present including shearing legend Sir David Fagan, who had driven with friends from Te Kuiti, and Labour List MP Kieran McAnulty, who is also the MC at the Golden Shears each year.

Welcoming mourners, Manahi Paewai said Mullins was "a special man who touched our lives in so many ways."

"We thought the marae would have been a bit of a stretch," he said, explaining the decision to move the service from the marae to the Town Hall, which still wasn't big enough.

MC Che Wilson warned: "Today is going to be a different kind of service."

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

And it was, with clapping in beat across the auditorium as Dr Hook's "When you're in love with a beautiful woman" played to signify the start of the family legacy when teenaged Koro Mullins and eventual wife Mavis Paewai while they worked in the woolsheds for her father and brothers.

His brother, Ronald Hemara, speaking of growing-up around Rotoiti, near Rotorua, said it was to be life-changing, for both the man and the shearing industry.

Rowland Smith said he was a 12-year-old learning to shear when he first met Koro Mullins, and one thing was that the man showed him the same respect throughout the 21 years that followed.

"It didn't matter who you were or where you came from, he treated everyone with the same respect," Smith said.

Other speakers were farmers Colin Simmonds and Brian Pim, and the Mullins' sons Punga and Tuma and daughters Korina and Aria.

More than 200 vehicles followed the hearse for the burial at Paraneha Hori Urupa, across the road from the Paewai Mullins staff quarters east of Dannevirke.

Save

    Share this article

Latest from The Country

Premium
The Country

'They just keep coming': Illegal hunting causes frustration and fear on East Coast

The Country

Watch: CCTV shows moment drug-driver caused tractor to crash into homes

The Country

Te Puke incident: Person airlifted after serious injury


Sponsored

Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from The Country

Premium
Premium
'They just keep coming': Illegal hunting causes frustration and fear on East Coast
The Country

'They just keep coming': Illegal hunting causes frustration and fear on East Coast

East Coast MP Dana Kirkpatrick highlights rising poaching concerns.

17 Jul 06:00 AM
Watch: CCTV shows moment drug-driver caused tractor to crash into homes
The Country

Watch: CCTV shows moment drug-driver caused tractor to crash into homes

17 Jul 03:49 AM
Te Puke incident: Person airlifted after serious injury
The Country

Te Puke incident: Person airlifted after serious injury

17 Jul 02:26 AM


Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky
Sponsored

Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky

06 Jul 09:47 PM
NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • NZ Herald e-editions
  • Daily puzzles & quizzes
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Subscribe to the NZ Herald newspaper
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • NZME Events
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP