Pipiwharauroa

The Herald of Spring

The Te Rawhiti Newsletter

Volume 1 Issue 9 October 2009

Te Karaka Ahitapu 1931-2009

This tribute is made to the memory of a generous funny loving sociable hardworking andintelligent rangatira whose life I was fortunate enough to share. Our grand parents werebrothers, Pukepuke and Rewiri Ahitapu.

Whakatauki:

He aha te mea nui? He tangata! He tangata ! He tangata!What is the most important thing in the world ? It is people! It is people! It is people! Te Karaka (Joe) Rewiri Ahitapu was one of fourteen children,( many died as infants). Hisfather was Kanuta (Dan) Rewiri Ahitapu of Te Patukeha Hapu of Te Rawhiti of Ngapuhiand mother Rea Kora of Te Whakatohea (Ngati Ira of Waioweka Opotiki. ) He was born atKukumoa Opotiki in October 1931. In the morning when his mum Rea went to do themilking he decided to arrive early and so she had him under a karaka tree, hence hisname. Joe is a nickname.As Te Karaka says on his Bebo web site: " I was born under a Karaka tree and lived in araupo whare. Grew up living with whanau and extended whanau. Whanau schools hereand there. Waioweka native school was built by our whanau/hapu in 1879 and it's stillgoing strong. Farming, bushfelling, hunting pigs, kereru ( plenty of them in the Urewera)fishing, white baiting, horse riding, outdoors the good life! " Like many Maori from therural communities Te Karaka headed to the towns and city where his whanaunga andparents were to start a new life. Just as his father before him had gone to Opotiki wheretheir whanaunga lived. So they were big changes for this maori boy from the sticks. Heworked at the freezing works at Westfield and Hellaby's along with whanau. And duringthis time met a lovely lady Val, whose children he brought up as his own, Kerry,Andreaand Simon. Even while working full time, he developed a sideline business which wonhim a trip for two to Hawaii where he met Englebert Humperdink who was there for thesame reason as he, business! Te Karaka came to Te Rawhiti in the 1960's and built a garage on whanau whenua onthe beach front at Kaingahoa assisted by his first cousin Arthur Hakaraia, of Whiorau andWalter Mountain senior and his children, from Te Tawa.

He committed his life to his father Kanuta' side and to the development of Te Rawhiti. Heoften travelled up from Auckland to Te Rawhiti for meetings along with other trusteesand hui at their own expense. He was a trustee on the Te Rawhiti Marae and the TeRawhiti School Reserve Trust and later became the chairman. He was also a foundingtrustee of the Motukokako Trust which gave out education grants for tertiary educationbut retired last year due to ill health. He became Chairman of Patukeha KaumatuaCommittee which was responsible for all 'take' relating to resource management,conservation, environment and appeared at hearing submissions.In addition Te Karaka was chairman of Te Runanga o Taumarere ki Rakaumangamangawhich represents Patukeha and Ngati Kuta to Te Runanga a Iwi o Ngapuhi. He worked onfisheries going to marae all over the north to discuss maori customary uses, and thetools to do it. As well as attending national hui. Whatever he did was driven by tikangaMaori, matauranga Maori and kaitiakitanga whether it was commercial or cultural or not,not forgetting Te Tiriti oWaitangi and He whakaputanga the Declaration of Independance. A great believer in our tino rangatiratanga, mana Maori, put it intopractice and walked the talk. Te Karaka’s tupuna Moka and Rewa were signatories tothese key documents, the first re-affirming the Declaration of Independance which claimis now to be taken by Te Runanga o Ngapuhi on behalf of hapu and heard by theWaitangi Tribunal in the near future. He attended the Waitangi Tribunal pre hearing atWaitangi earlier this year.And he was always on the Taumata at the marae. A man of strong principles - he wasnot afraid to stand up for his convictions. He opposed both the Nga Whenua Rahui whichwas signed by the Te Rawhiti 3B2 Trustees. However the covenant still went through,and the other was the moana for a marine reserve - no take and closed forever to ourwhakapapa. Fortunately it didn't happen. A temporary rahui was put in force earlier thisyear. The first meeting to be held about papakainga on the whenua at Kaingahoa was held atKaraka's bach in 1987. Most of those present at that hui, Arthur Hakaraia, ArohaBeaumont,Te Hae Wihongi, Kaa Hemara, and others have now passed away. But it wasan important decision which set in motion preliminary meetings and submissions to putpapakainga in place at Te Rawhiti which were successful. Housing Corporation NZplanner, Maori Affairs planner, Northland Regional Council, and the Tai Tokerau DistrictMaori Council spoke in support of us. Henry Titore who sadly passed away recently cameto support the submissions put up by Te Karaka, my brother Bill and myself to the Bay of Islands Council as it was then known. Te Karaka statement on Bebo" I have committed myself to the development of my whanau hapu of Te Rawhiti whereI live. " Te Karaka wished to establish his father's whanau back at Te Rawhiti on the whenua atKaingahoa. This he has done. And so have the other whanau. The Kaingahoa papakaingaproject led by Te Aroha Beaumont our niece was supported by the whanau of thewhenua.Te Karaka was one of these, he built a home up at the top of the hill along withtwo of his sisters, the Sherman's and the Tawhara'. This project included papakaingahouses which were built at Whiorau, Hauai and Kaimarama, Kaitaia and Waikare. Talking about fishing. He loved it and used to take his little dingy out or the bigger oneuntil someone pinched it and it was found on the rocks around past Hauai. Ringa used topark his boat up in Joe's garage before it got a floor and was done up. Ringa took some

of us on his flash boat fishing. He had big game fishing gear on board. On the way out toMotukokako we saw heaps of blue maomao but didn't catch anything.So he called upcousin Arthur Hakaraia and Te Karaka on his radio to see how they were doing. Theypulled alongside in their humble dingy near Deep water Cove and passed over their fish (we have a picture ). Ringa fried up some scones and the fish on board. It was tuumeke!Awesome!When the koiwi were brought back to Te Rawhiti marae a few months ago, Te Karaka gothis first chopper flight from the beach in front of the marae to fly across toUrupukapuka. Marara and I went too. We landed with her remains. And Mararaconducted a beautiful service, then back to Kaingahoa where our moko were waiting tohear all about it.He never forgot his Whakatohea side and always went back there when he could to thevarious hundred year centennials and openings celebrations and tangihanga. As a familyman he loved children. Our mokopuna have been so lucky to have him as their koro. Hehas shared his matauranga with them and his whanau and extended whanau.Something they will never forget. We will never forget him. Te Karaka is survived by his whangai children Kerry, Andrea,Simon Swasbrook,mokopuna Kelly andTristan, mokopuna tuarua Jasmin, step children Lamorna, Chris andBlair, mokopuna Fabian ,Dylan, Natasha, Tiana, Emma, Kalani, Leana, Jessie, Neil,mokopuna tuarua Cody, Hayley and Jayden, and in laws, Karen, Tony, Raelene, Angela,Marie, Gwenaelle,and Courtney He mihi aroha nui ki a koe e te rangatira, mo ou mahirangatira me ou manakitanga Haere, haere, haere Moe mai e roto e nga matua tupuna.Moe mai ra moe mai ra.Na Peti Pukepuke Ahitapu.Henare, known also as ‘Wobby’, was the son of Tarau Titore andMoe Le Noel. Wob was a quietly spoken humble person, whowas raised here in Te Rawhiti. He attended Te Rawhiti NativeSchool, and Northland College and worked in a series of jobs inhis life. His knowledge of fishing was passed down from hisfather Tarau, who was a lookout on the whaling ships in theearly 1900’s, and a commercial fisherman in the ‘20’s and 30’s.Henare also had an outstanding knowledge of the fishinggrounds in and around our rohe, right down the coast beyond Taupiri, using land marks to guide him to them. Henare wasmarried to Elizabeth Parkes, who was the widow of his cousin Jack Parkes, and he raised her children as his own. Elizabethand Henare had one son, Henare, who now lives in Australia. When Elizabeth diedHenare moved to Western Australia to live and work in a mining town calledPannawonnica. In recent years,Wobby’s health troubled him but he still worked when hecould – his last job was on the wharves at Whangarei with his daughter Robin’s husbandfrom Takahiwai. His whanau and our community will miss him. Moe mai e te matua…..

Ae Marika!

A column published in the Northland Age

By Hone Harawira

Henare Titore

02.08.45-