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By 1982 I had moved to Te Maruata, Whangarei at the invitation of my mother‟s twin sister, Iritana
Pitman, to live on Ngati Hau land and occupy the home of my grandparent‟s Te Huihuinga and Parata
Minarapa. In 1990 I left Whangarei for study and work, returning in 2001. The difficult but
rewarding journey of returning to Ngati Hau, the birthplace of my mother, started in 1963 when I met
my maternal grandparents for the first time. That ritual of encounter proved to be the most liberating
and cathartic experience of my life.
Once the decision was made to live at Te Maruata, the resolve to research and collate the records and
documents of the Maori Land Court to ascertain the origin of Ngati Hau and the role of my
grandfather, Parata Minarapa within the hapu became a priority. As his family increased Parata
Minarapa changed his name to Minarapa Parata, half of his children are registered Minarapa and the
remainder Parata. My mother and her twin sister were registered as Minarapa. The experience of this
personal research and investigation was relatively easy but disappointing. On the one hand it set free
the unfettered history, stories and genealogies of Ngati Hau by Ngati Hau tupuna, while at the same
time impeding and limiting the search for my Ngati Hau whakapapa. I am unable to unearth my
individual Ngati Hau whakapapa, a loss I attribute to my tupuna Minarapa Paeawa as a non-seller of
land.
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