Sharples: Ngati Whatua Orakei Tertiary Achievers
te-pati-maori
Mon Apr 23 2007 12:00:00 GMT+1200 (New Zealand Standard Time)
Sharples: Ngati Whatua Orakei Tertiary Achievers
Monday, 23 April 2007, 9:27 am
Speech: The Maori Party
Ngati Whatua Orakei Tertiary Education Achievers Dinner
AUT Conference Centre, Saturday 21 April 2007
Dr Pita Sharples; Member of Parliament for Tamaki Makaurau
He ao te rangi ka uhia, he kai te whare wananga ka toroa.
As the clouds deck the heaven, so food prolongs the wananga.
As we have sat tonight, enticed by the entrée, nourished by the main meal, I am sure you have been all waiting to plunge into the pudding.
Will it be light to the touch, a pavlova of froth and frivolity?
Shall it be sweet and tantalising, brandy snaps beyond our wildest dreams?
Or will it be traditional steamed pud, weighty with substance and leaving you heavy with the load of the world on your puku?
Such was the challenge I set myself in accepting the invitation to be your after-dinner appetiser.
The food of knowledge extends the breadth of the whare wananga, the house of learning.
Oh what knowledge we are celebrating tonight.
And when we think of knowledge, where better to begin, than to acknowledge the outstanding lifetime achievements of the late Professor Sir Hugh Kawharu.
The tributes that Dr Ranginui Walker has expressed so eloquently of this man, reflect the dignity, the respect, the distinguished presence Sir Hugh held in all of our lives.
He was someone that truly fitted the description, ‘a gentleman and a scholar’.
I was honoured, earlier this year, to attend the inaugural Tohu o te Maramaratanga Research Awards in which our eminent senior Maori researchers were celebrated. Ngati Whatua - through Sir Hugh – can be forever proud of the recognition of the Emeritus Professor, who has forged new pathways in Maori transformation through his dedication to academic excellence and scholarship.
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His leadership, his inspiration, his formidable intellect, his extraordinary grasp of the processes of advancing tribal causes through the systems of the state, his exemplary citizenship has made him one of the great icons of our time.
But wait, there’s more.
What is so incredible about tonight, is the wealth of talent that emanates by virtue of the ancestry of Ngati Whatua.
One of the things that has been said of Sir Hugh, was that he was someone whom the old people sent out to be educated.
But in becoming an international scholar, Sir Hugh never forsake the immeasurable richness of Ngati Whatuatanga as a basis for his learning.
As an Honorary Fellow of Exeter College in Oxford, Sir Hugh felt a profound connection to 600 years of scholars before him. The reverence with which he valued his own whakapapa paved the way for his foray into foreign institutions.
That sense of familiarity and confidence with the world outside has passed down to later generations of Ngati Whatua tertiary achievers.
We celebrate also tonight, the success of Rhodes Scholar, Merata Kawharu who took the Kawharu name back to the hallowed halls of Exeter College in 1994.
I remember the young woman who performed at the opening ceremony of the 1990 Commonwealth games as a member of Te Puru o Tamaki, someone who immersed herself in rowing, in athletics, in the Polynesian Festival, in hockey, indeed in life.
A young woman who went on to become the first person from her whakapapa on both sides, both Ngati Whatua and Ngapuhi, to win a Rhodes Scholarship.
Interviewed after graduating DPhil, Merata was matter of fact about Oxford, describing the system of learning as like a marae for us, eating, worshipping and studying together within a sense of community as whanau.
I am so glad to be able to stand here tonight and pay tribute to that dignified poise and ease in which Ngati Whatua graduates have taken their place within the global economy.
Closer to home, across at one of Australia’s top universities, Monash, we can find Dr Patty McNicholas – mokopuna of the second Anglican Bishop of Aotearoa, the Rt Rev Wiremu Netana Panapa.
Just as Sir Hugh was guided into his pathway of learning, Bishop Panapa always believed that Maori needed to bring about change for ourselves. By Ngati Whatua, for Ngati Whatua, of Ngati Whatua.
Patty was awarded her PhD from the University of Waikato, in 2003 for her thesis 'Indigenous women and the professions: Maori women's experiences in the accountancy profession of Aotearoa/New Zealand'.
Part of her thesis was that the lack of interest by the professional bodies meant that Maori accountants did not seem to enjoy the same level of support that perhaps were evident in law and education.
I thought there was a delightful sense of serendipity in thinking about Patty – and knowing tonight in Wellington, the third ever Hui a Tau for the National Maori Accountants Network was taking place – and I am sure that the influence of this Ngati Whatua scholar would also be felt there.
The shores of Australia might seem miles away from Otamatea, or the Kaipara Harbour, but for another young starlet of Ngati Whatua fame, Jeanna Mikkelson (nee Walker), the world was literally her oyster, or perhaps more to the point, her snapper.
Jeanna was one of three students who won Moana Pacific scholarships to study at Tasmania’s prestigious Australian Maritime College. Interestingly, it was her commitment to helping Ngati Whatua in the future that was one of the factors in winning her the scholarship – to be useful in the area of Maori fishing.
The indomitable spirit of Ngati Whatua is perhaps represented best in a principle articulated by Tom Parore, as Chairman of Te Runanga o Ngati Whatua.
In his preface to the education profile of Ngati Whatua, Ngati Whatua Heru hapai; Tom issued a challenge: “Whakapakari ki te hua o te kawariki – grow forth and never give in’.
What I love about this, is that Tom didn’t just issue a challenge – he then went on and slowly but surely set about changing the world.
The first step was to bring the powers that be on board, and so Te Runanga o Ngati Whatua entered into a Memorandum of Understanding with the Ministry of Education.
It articulated a promise to Ngati Whatua for:
Increased opportunities for involvement in education within te rohe o Ngati Whatua;
Improved communication between the Crown and Runanga;
Improvements in the quality of education services;
Increased opportunities to strengthen knowledge of Ngati Whatua tikanga, and to ensure this is authentically expressed and practice by those who provide education services within this rohe.
These are grand commitments.
Commitments which turned into action through the initiatives of Ngati Whatua o Orakei.
In November 2004 Ngati Whatua o Orakei signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Auckland University of Technology. You have supported education for your people through the allocation of education grants and scholarships to early childhood, primary, secondary and tertiary students.
You have invested in whanau and hapu, to develop and enhance the collective expression of mana whenua of Tamaki Makaurau.
You have given sustenance to those of your people in universities, whare wananga and polytechnics studying toward degrees, diplomas, certificates, masters and doctorates.
You have provided the means to advance Ngati Whatua development, teaching, carpentry, law, information technology, medicine, photography, art, mechanics, tourism, hospitality and business.
You have literally risen like the phoenix from the ashes, you have been surrounded by an unfriendly environment but you have overcome, indeed, grown forth and never given in.
I think it is timely tonight, to also think back to the days of Orakei in 1952 when the people in the Okahu village site were evicted, relocated in to state tenancies and your houses and marae were burnt by the government; in preparation for the visit by the newly crowned Queen Elizabeth.
And we think also, of the occupation of Takaparawha led by Joe Hawke and the sacrifices and suffering that occurred as a result of that occupation. The 506 Days on ancestral Maori land, protesting against the Crown’s plan to develop high income housing and parks.
And we recall that 222 protesters were arrested; your meeting house, buildings, gardens demolished.
While we have been celebrating education, we also need to acknowledge the lessons of history. They are lessons for all of us.
That is also an important part of our history: you – me – we: lest we forget.
We must always remember the sacrifices of others which make our achievements today possible.
It is nights like tonight that give us in the Maori Party, the relish, the richness, the reason for seeking each day to advance the aspirations of tangata whenua.
Your dedication as Ngati Whatua, to protect and affirm your own cultural identity alongside of such prolonged and practical support for the value of lifelong development and wellbeing, is to be greatly admired.
The quest to learn; the driving passion for knowledge, that is epitomised in events like this, to uplift and recognise Ngati Whatua Orakei Tertiary Education Achievers, is what we would want for every New Zealander.
Your focus on educational excellence for Ngati Whatua is about the means by which you realise your dreams.
Our single focus as a political movement, is that we conduct ourselves as a strong and independent Maori voice with influence.
Our greatest success comes not with projects signed off, or funds achieved, but more in the fostering of hope, the creation of motivation. You, in Ngati Whatua, help to make that success possible, and for that we honour you.
And now, can we get on with the pudding?
ENDS
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