Goodmorning,
Another day another blessing, kaiwhakaohooho means inspiration or inspirational leader and to me one of my greatest heroes is Te Rangi Hiroa/Sir Peter Buck, my eternal thanks to you and your family for your undying love and support to our people and for your knowledge. A passage Sir Peter Buck is well known for and inspires me endlessly.
Ka 50 tau inaianei, ka ki tetahi kaumatua, ‘No te Ao Maori matou, mo koutou mo nga tamariki Te Ao Hou.’ No te hui tuatahi a te kotahitanga o Te Aute i Taumata-o-mihi i Waiapu taua korero. Ko matou ko nga taitamariki o taua wa i ngakau nui ki te tuku i o matou matauranga o Te Ao Hou hei awhina i te Iwi. Ko Te Kotahitanga he hua no nga tumanako o Apirana Turupu Ngata, M.A., LL. B., i kuraina a ia ki Te Aute a ko ia te tamatuatahi o te Iwi Maori ki te whiwhi ki nga tohu matauranga o te Whare Wananga o te Pakeha. Kua eke a ia i taua wa ki nga taumata teitei o te Ao Hou, mo te mea i riro Maori mai i a ia nga honore o te Whare Wananga Pakeha.
Ko Apirana te Hekeretari a me te Kaihautu o Te Kotahitanga kua horapa atu kia whakauru mai ai te hunga i kuraina ki Tipene me Paerata. Ko ta matou he hua i tetahi ingoa mo te Kotahitanga kia uru ai te katoa o te hunga taitamariki tane wahine e ngakau nui ana ki te awhina i te iwi i roto i te Ao Hou; a ka whakataua ko Te Ropu o Te Ao Hou. I tu a matou hui a tau i runga i nga marae maha, a i whakapuakitia e matou o matou nei whakaaro mo nga ahuatanga i te aroaro o te iwi. I tautokotia e nga kaumatua a matou moemoea, a matou wawata, otira i mohio iho ano ratou ma matou ano ma nga taitamariki e whakatutuki, ko ta ratou whakatauki:
‘Ka pu te ruha
Ka Hao te rangatahi’
Translation…
Over 50 years ago, an old man said, ‘We old people are not clear of the age of stone, te ao hou is for you young people.’ The speech was made at the first conference of the newly formed Te Aute College Old Boys’ Association held at Taumata-o-mihi in the Waiapu district. We young people of that era were full of enthusiasm to make our education of service to our people. The Association had been inspired by Apirana Turupa Ngata, M.A., LL.B., a Te Aute old boy and the first Maori graduate of the University of New Zealand. He had accomplished something in the new world even then, for he had proved that students of Maori blood could enter the Whare Wananga of the pakeha and graduate with honour.
Apirana was the organizing secretary of the Association, and the movement spread to St. Stephen’s College and Three Kings Wesleyan College in Auckland. We had to formulate a new name that would include not only the old boys of sister colleges, but also all young men and women who desired to work for the uplift and prestige of their race in the new era which was opening before them. And so the Young Maori Party was born. Annual conferences were held on different maraes, and we discussed with the old people the problems which lay before us. They were hearty in their verbal support of our dreams and aspirations, but they realized that action had to come from the younger and more vigorous generation which was to take their place. They summed up the situation with the old adage:
The old net is laid aside,
The new net goes a-fishing.
Kia pai to ra katoa
Good day to you all
L.W
L.W