Jim Bolger’s death is being deemed an “end of an era” as the former Prime Minister is remembered as a man of the land, a relentless learner, a nation-builder and a generational leader grounded by his family, his faith and his farming foundations.
Bolger, 90, died last week after a long battle with kidney failure.
Braving torrid weather, hundreds of mourners gathered at Our Lady of Kāpiti church in Paraparaumu for Bolger’s official funeral.
The farewell attracted many high-profile former New Zealand politicians, including several former Prime Ministers, including Dame Jenny Shipley, Sir Bill English and Helen Clark.
Many current members of Parliament were also in attendance. Prime Minister Christopher Luxon was one of the few people to speak. He led a large contingent of National MPs, who were joined by a large number of former National MPs, including Chris Finlayson, Todd Muller and John Carter.
Party leaders from Labour, Act and Te Pāti Māori (including president John Tamihere) were in the gathering, alongside MPs from the Greens and New Zealand First.
High-ranking members within Māoridom also made the journey, most notably Māori Queen Ngawai hono i te po.
Bolger’s wife Joan opened proceedings with a brief statement, recognising the flood of support for the family from across the country and the world.
“He certainly did know a lot of people,” she said to gentle laughs.
“And he’d be touched to see you all here today.”
The first to pay tribute was Governor-General Dame Cindy Kiro, who declared Bolger one of the great New Zealanders of his generation and said his passing marked an “end of an era”.
“He came from a time when a young farmer who left school at 15, from a remote community and a modest background, could pursue political ambitions and rise steadily through the ranks, including becoming PM and earn our nation’s highest honour.”
She made the first of many mentions of Bolger implementing the now-renowned Treaty of Waitangi settlement process, describing it as a “game-changing moment in our history”.
Luxon began with a message directed at Joan, recognising the strain placed on a Prime Minister’s immediate family.
“A Prime Minister’s partner is an unpaid diplomat, an adviser, a confidant and so much more and Jim was a better politician for having you by his side.”
He echoed Kiro in celebrating Bolger’s “groundbreaking work” in the mid-1990s to secure settlement progress with Waikato-Tainui and Ngāi Tahu while managing a flighty caucus approaching the 1996 election.
“But Jim held firm, he knew the settlements were the right thing to do.
“New Zealand is a better place for it … and every government since has walked in the footprints of Jim and Sir Doug Graham and the team [they] left behind.”
Waikato-Tainui’s Tukoroirangi Morgan continued in a similar vein, speaking on behalf of iwi “inextricably linked to the life and the legacy” of Bolger.
He noted that with Treaty settlements now normalised, it was easy to forget the “deeply strained” relationship between the Crown and iwi that Bolger grappled with.
“Trust was low, the sense of injustice was still raw, and the pathway forward was unclear.
“But Jim saw what others could not; that reconciliation was not only possible, it was necessary.”
Morgan remembered fondly Bolger’s relationships that crossed the political spectrum, recalling how the late Labour Western Māori MP Koro Wētere once dragged his supporters to the Waitomo Club one election night to meet with Bolger.
“His explanation was simple: ‘Jim was my neighbour and he was my mate before we both became politicians and we needed to have a beer together’,” Morgan recounted.
“That was Jim Bolger. A man who valued people over politics, principles over party lines.”
Sir Don McKinnon, Bolger’s former Deputy Prime Minister, gave an insight into how his late colleague’s upbringing in rural New Zealand and being born between the depression and World War II informed Bolger’s instinctive political leadership.
“Those kids grew up fast. Those kids before the age of 8 could milk a cow, could kill a sheep, could kill a possum, could mother up a lamb, could fix a water trough, could drag a drowning calf out of a drain.
“Those characteristics of young Jim Bolger prevailed with him for the rest of his life.”
Of Bolger’s efforts to manage National’s inflated caucus after the 1990 election win, McKinnon made observations that would have likely struck a chord with the politicians in the room.
“It’s one thing to have a united inner quorum of the caucus, then you have another bunch outside who all want to be Prime Minister tomorrow.
“Be assured, every backbench Member of Parliament carries a field marshal’s baton under his or her arm. But that’s when Jim came into his own.”
McKinnon, speaking through roaring wind and lashing rain audible from inside the church, declared his “great mate” as “certainly the best of the five farming Prime Ministers we ever had”.
Most revealing were the stories that came from three of his nine children; Dan, Matt and Bernadette.
Dan spoke of his father as a “man of the land”, one with a passion for growing things, an excellent builder and a lover of animals.
Milking cows was in Bolger’s DNA, working on the neighbour’s farm before and after school at 9 years of age. His love of the job continued right up until his last hours, when he asked family members from his hospital bed what arrangements they’d made to ensure milking went ahead as planned.
Dan recounted how Jim had met Joan as her debating coach, with Joan’s first impression of her future husband being that he spoke like a priest.
Matt followed, musing his father had never been particularly popular as Prime Minister: “It seems the most effective way to be popular in New Zealand politics today is to be dead,” he said, acknowledging the sentiment might not appeal to the former, current and aspiring holders of the role who were in the room.
Bolger’s love of people was a common theme, his children claiming their father’s biggest disappointment would have been his inability to join in on the funeral proceedings.
Bernadette continued with the levity, saying her father had been greatly annoyed that of his four siblings, he would be the one to die first.
She recalled conversations with doctors about his kidney failure, in which dialysis was not recommended on account of his age.
“He responded, ‘I think I still have more to give.’”
Dialysis treatment gave the family 18 months in which to farewell him. Throughout, Joan remained his constant companion, a dynamic illustrated by a phone call she received after spending 12 hours at the hospital with her husband last week.
“Her phone rang, it was Dad; asking if she wanted to go back in because he missed her. It was a phenomenal partnership to the very end.”
Joan wiped away a tear as her husband, lying in a coffin covered in a regal korowai, was slowly carried out of the church and into the waiting hearse.
One of Bolger’s favourite songs, Danny Boy – once sung from the Speaker’s balcony by Bolger himself – echoed through the church as the former Prime Minister’s farewell concluded.
Adam Pearse is the Deputy Political Editor and part of the NZ Herald’s Press Gallery team based at Parliament in Wellington. He has worked for NZME since 2018, reporting for the Northern Advocate in Whangārei and the Herald in Auckland.