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KO WAI AHAU: WHO AM 1
I was born in Freeman‟s Bay, Auckland in 1948. My father‟s family were Roman Catholic from
Hokianga who had left to live and find work in Auckland. My father had three families of six
(Motuti) three (Whangarei, Waima & Omanaia) and one (Whirinaki). My mother lived in Freeman‟s
Bay as well. Her parents were Methodist and lived on the Waima River, Hokianga and her three
brothers lived in Auckland as well. A younger sister, older brother and I attended St Patricks
Cathedral School in Freeman‟s Bay from primary to secondary school. During the school holidays
we would spend time in Hokianga, either on the Waima River with grandparents Sam and Rangimarie
Moses or at Omanaia with grandparents Tom and Rewa Ngakuru. By the end of 1958, the homes
around Freeman‟s Bay and closest to the motorway extensions to the Auckland Harbour Bridge were
demolished and families moved away.
My mother passed away in November 1962. In 1963 I met my biological maternal grandparents for
the first time in Auckland. My grandfather Parata Minarapa (Ngati Hau) was aged 90 and my
grandmother, Te Huihuinga Mahanga (Ngati Korora), was in her eighties. They had recently been
informed of my mother‟s death and had come to Auckland to pay their respects and visit with me. At
that time and as a teenager I could not envisage that their lives would have relevance to mine.
By mid-1963, I had moved to Whangarei to live with an Aunt and returned to school. In 1966 I started
my first job in the Maori Land Court, Whangarei. My familiarity with the Maori Land Court filing
and record systems made tribal research easier. Years later, I was to learn that my father‟s parents
were not his biological parents either and that he was the eldest of four brothers.
In 1979 Matiu Rata resigned as a Minister of the Crown and member of the New Zealand Labour
Party to establish Mana Motuhake. Matiu Rata was a major influence in my life from the early
1970‟s, conscientiously challenging my commitment to Maori interests as a member of the New
Zealand Labour Party and later in Mana Motuhake.
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