Leading from the front issuu

KIA KAHA KORO — TANGATA TIRITI!
by denis o’reilly
Pat Magill. If you come from Hawke’s Bay, or are active in
social justice circles, whether from Helsinki or Hokitika,
the very mention of the name Pat Magill is likely to bring
a little smile to the corners of the mouth, a flutter of the
spirit, and the echo of the beat of a different drum.
Pat Magill is a living symbol of nga hoa Pakeha, those of
us of broadly European extraction, who see ourselves as
teina, younger siblings to the original people of our homeland,
Aotearoa, and who are committed to the fulfilment
of the Treaty of Waitangi. We are Tangata Tiriti, children
of the Treaty. We are in support of our elder siblings, Nga
Māori, Tangata Whenua. For me Pat Magill is one of my
kaumatua, kaumatua Pakeha. Indeed, he is a Rangatira.
In December of 1974 I was part of a travelling troupe.
We were musicians and players. The group was called
Storm and Friends and we formed in Wellington with
a mix of Pakeha and Māori. With a grant from the Arts
Council we purchased an old Railways’ bus and we
headed off on a tour of Te Ika a Maui, following the Blerta
model.
Again, multidimensional as per Blerta, our offering was
a rock band (playing covers) and a theatre troupe. Our
first big show was in Palmerston North. We tried street
theatre and were joined by an aspirational poet by the
name of Garry Mc Cormick. I’ll leave that story hanging.
We pushed on to Hawke’s Bay and through some
obscure YMCA connection our itinerary led us to accommodation
at Waiohiki Marae. We were to meet a
YMCA outreach worker named Wally Hunt. Wally Hunt
had been hired by Mr Pat Magill to run a programme to
engage Māori youth from Napier’s peri-urban maraes.
Magic eventuated. Storm and Friends played at the
Soundshell. I met this beautiful wahine, and, without
knowing it at the time, my life became linked to Ahuriri
and the influence of Pat Magill.
Pat Magill gives new meaning to the term ‘social butterfly’.
He comes from a successful business family and
had been cocooned in the casual racist social chrysalis
of the red-necked burghers of Napier. He was the chairman
of the Hawke’s Bay Rugby Union, a role then akin
to the Grand Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan in another land.
Whether Pat had a spiritual epiphany or simply decided
to enact his pragmatic Christian beliefs I do not know
but in the 1970s Pat Magill underwent a radical transformation,
a metamorphosis, and emerged as a Treatyconscious
social-justice activist. He was reborn as a socialist
butterfly.
I have organized his significant birthdays. His sixtieth,
his seventieth, his eightieth, his ninetieth. All held at
Waiohiki. During the intervening decades he has walked.
He has walked his talk. The bigger the problem he would
say, the longer the walk. With child-like innocence he
enrolled others, particularly members of the Diplomatic
Corps, who would be swept up in his enthusiasm for
world peace, child-friendly communities, social justice
and a caring “Pilot City.” In Napier he has turned ANZAC
Day upside down, making it a celebration of the contribution
of ordinary citizens to a living peace rather than
the commemoration of the wasted human sacrifice and
destruction of war.
Now, Pat says, he is considering retirement. But before
that, can we meet at the pie man’s place at the Maraenui
shops? Oh, and there’s that book on the Treaty by Consedine
that we need to get to members of the new Government
immediately after the election. And can I edit
this little submission to the Napier City Council? Oh yes,
and what about a little contribution to enable a walk for
unity….ake ake ake. Kia kaha koro!
Above left; Denis and Pat, two party-loving Irishmen with a social justice bent, at Pat’s 90th; Right: Discussions in the dark, Nga hoa
Pakeha and Irish to the bone; Ready to rise up — Denis keeps up the spirits at the revolution planning session, Koro keeps his knees
warm and peacenik Ian Upton has a warm head and cool legs.
Behind the façade 73