TE REO - The Voice of the NZSG MIG Reference source:

The Reed Pocket Dictionary of Modern Maori. P.M. Ryan 1999.

Printed by Snap Printing Underwood, Brisbane, Australia

© NZSG MIG 2009 BRM 33

Te Reo Proudly Sponsored by Bruce since 2001

The current MIG Executive term began on the 4th June 2008 at the NZSG AGM Christchurch & will end at the 2009 NZSG AGM. The MIG formed in 1993 and the NZSG ratified the MIG at the Christchurch Council Meeting on Saturday the 3rd December 1994.

Registered with the Charities Commission on the 30th June 2008—Registration Number CC34423.

TE REO

N E

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ISSN 1176-4767

Vol. 16 Issue #3

AKUHATA/AUGUST 2009

VxÄxuÜtà|Çz DH lxtÜá

Special Interest Group No.76 of the New Zealand Society of Genealogists Inc.

The MIG formed in 1993 & was ratified by the NZSG at the Christchurch Council Meeting on Saturday the 3rd December 1994

Official Publication of the NZSG Maori Interest Group www.rcyachts.net/maori

Volume 16 Issue 3 AKUHATA/AUGUST 2009

NZSG MĀORI INTEREST GROUP

TE REO Patron: Vacant

Acting Executive Committee 2009-2010

Please address all correspondence to the MIG Secretary as below;

New Zealand Society of Genealogists Attention : Māori Interest Group Secretary

PO Box 8795 Symonds Street

Auckland, AKD 1035 NEW ZEALAND

or Mëra-hiko/E-mail: MaoriSIG@genealogy.org.nz with the Subject line "Maori Interest Group"

CONVENOR : Mr. Owen ORMSBY

SECRETARY : Mrs. Brenda JOYCE

TREASURER : Mrs. Brenda JOYCE

NEWSLETTER EDITOR : Mr. Bruce MATHERS

COMMITTEE : Mrs. Lorraine RICE Mr. Owen ORMSBY Mrs. Harete PHILLIPS

Mrs. Celia GEARY Mr. Daniel PHILLIPS

RESEARCH ADVISOR : Mrs. Lorraine RICE [Advisory only]

RESEARCH ADVISOR : Mr. Peter ALLEN [Māori Land Court]

WHAKAPAPA ADVISOR : Mrs. Brenda JOYCE [Advisory only]

WEBMASTER : Mr. Bruce MATHERS

ARCHIVIST : Mrs. Brenda JOYCE Our Archives are stored at the NZSG FRC

LOOKUP SERVICE : Mrs. Brenda JOYCE

EXECUTIVE LIAISON : Mrs. Brenda JOYCE [Māori Interest Group]

When corresponding with officers of the MIG you must always quote your NZSG Membership Number and include a LARGE Stamped Self-Addressed Envelope [SSAE]

with your letter if a reply is anticipated.

TE REO PAGE 23

DISCLAIMER

The Editor and Webmaster welcome contributions for publication, but reserve the right to edit as necessary. The views expressed are not nec-essarily those of the Society, MIG, Editor, Webmaster and/or the Committee, and we

therefore do not accept any responsibility for information or opinions expressed.

All information is provided in good faith as a general reference source only and which is given for Genealogi-cal purposes as possible finding aids. The Society, MIG and their executives cannot vouch for the accuracy of any reference material.

The Māori Interest Group occasionally provides Maps as a general reference source only and the researcher should undertake more in-depth research, once the broad proximity of the Iwi has been identified.

When corresponding with officers of the MIG always quote your NZSG Membership Number and include a LARGE Stamped Self-Addressed Envelope [SSAE] with your letter if a reply is anticipated. E.&O.E. BM

N.B. I am very reluctant to publish member’s E-mail addresses only in Te Reo – I don’t think that this is being fair to those members without access to the Internet and it is also limiting your own chances of receiving a reply to only those members with the Internet. BM

MIG OBJECTIVES

1/. To assist others researching Māori Whakapapa by way of sharing our knowledge of areas of research.

2/. To compile a list of repositories, books etc that will assist with Māori research.

3/. To acquire books purchased through the Māori Inter-est Group and from donations [and group badge pro-ceeds] for all [NZ] members to use.

4/. It is noted we will not be researching for others but offering assistance to give others a channel of research that may help them. We have a research officer who will offer assistance in an advisory capacity.

MIG Services: Quarterly Newsletters; February, May, August & November. Published Newsletter Queries. Brief Research Queries Answered. Members Surname/Whakapapa Interest List.

MIG Subscription: As from the 1st November 2001 Membership of the New Zealand Society of Genealogist Māori Interest Group is free to all Financial Members of the New Zealand Society of Genealogists.

Those NZSG Members wishing to receive hardcopies of the MIG newsletter Te Reo must supply the MIG Secre-tary with four (4) A5 envelopes with a $1.00¢ stamp on each envelope.

MIG Meetings: Usually in conjunction with the NZSG Annual Conference—This is usually the MIG Annual General Meeting. BM

NZSG MĀORI INTEREST GROUP LOGO (Also see Te Reo Noema 2006 pg13)

Tukutuku P)anel. Dyed flax woven over strips of wood to produce a design of a series of steps or putama. These steps represent the staircase to heaven that the god Tane climbed to get the three baskets of knowledge for the Māori people.

• Te kete-tuatea (basket of light, present knowledge) • Te kete-tuauri (basket of darkness, things unknown) • Te kete-aronui (basket of pursuit, knowledge humans currently seek)

The steps can also be seen as generations on a whakapapa or family tree chart. Thus the logo represents learning and family history research. BJ

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INFORMATION OFFERED—WEBSITE(S) OF INTEREST

http://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bin/paperspast

In the past few weeks I have had a bit of time to work on my Whakapapa again and I have come to re-appreciate the value of the below websites BM;

http://www.archway.archives.govt.nz/

http://bdmhistoricalrecords.identityservices.govt.nz/Home/

PAGE 3 TE REO

IMPORTANT NOTICES—PLEASE READ! 4

2009 AGM REPORTS 6

FINANCIAL REPORT 12

CAN YOU HELP—INFORMATION WANTED 14

2009 GEARY WHANAU REUNION 17

TAURANGA RESEARCH WEEKEND 19

WEBSITES OF INTEREST 22

Membership of the NZSG Māori Interest Group is free, but you must be a financial member of the New Zealand Society of Genealogists Inc.

IN THIS ISSUE

Please have all material for the next newsletter [Noema/November 2009] to the MIG Secretary before

the 25th Oketopa/October 2009

TE REO PAGE 4

IMPORTANT NOTICES PLEASE READ!

2009 MIG AGM RESCHEDULED

Saturday 1st August 2009 at 10:30am to 12:00pm – at The Depot, 91 Cambridge Terrace, Papatoetoe.

On the map below – the RSA Bowling Club is at the bot-tom left hand arrow and The Depot is at the bottom right hand arrow. We hope to see as many of you as possible at this AGM so that we will have a Quorum and thus meet our responsibilities as an NZSG Interest Group.

Please send me your apologies if you are unable to attend. In the afternoon Owen ORMSBY, MIG Committee Member, will be giving a talk on Whakapapa research so Saturday

1st August promises to be an interesting day for all of us involved in this area of family history. Please contact Brenda if you need further information.

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The Māori Interest Group website is proudly hosted by R/C Yachts brisbane, australia - www.rcyachts.net

The Ngai te Ahi Historical Report Wai 370 and Ngawaro Regional Historical Re-view by Jim PENDERGRAST.

I have my Great Grand Mother Te Korowhiti TUATAKA, who married Edward DOUGLAS, back to the 8 canoes. I took 6 copies of each so I could give them away. They may or may not be correct, but they are as given to me by my family. I also had a Family Tree Maker chart back about 4 or 5 Generations with photos of

Te Korowhiti and Edward as well as my other Ancestors.

On Saturday a couple from Wellington came and let me go for meals and a cuppa. On Sunday Lorriane RICE came from Auckland and helped. She also had books and Knowledge that I did not have. She said we needed a list, and organised it. I think we had a good weekend and I hope everyone was happy with it.

Daphne.

(Continued from page 19)

Daphne EADES-CAMPBELL ‘womanned’ the MIG table on Saturday 4th July – dis-playing her own Whakapapa and books with local tribal histories.

On Sunday the table was looked after by Daphne EADES-CAMPBELL, Daniel Phil-lips, Harete Phillips and Lorraine Rice in the morning and Daphne and Lorraine in

the afternoon.

We had a number of people stop to ask questions and look for assistance, among them were the following:

• Tonia Norris, Tauranga • Jude Russell, Tauranga • Jim Cantlon, Tauranga • Francis Rupe, Otumoetai • Bob McKenzie, Te Puke • Paul Schultz, Tauranga • Patrick Clarkin, Tauranga • Genevieve Wansell, Katikati • Bryce West, Te Puke

Note the fabric – we had two pieces – both NZ themes.

The one on the bottom is a woven pattern so I see that as our kete wananga to hold all our whakapapa and the one on top shows a number of valued items or taonga which is how we view the fruits of our research.

Ka kite, Lorraine.

TE REO PAGE 20

Daphne EADES-CAMPBELL

NZSG Māori Interest Group Table Tauranga Research Weekend

3rd July 2009

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EDITOR’S CORNER:

Kia Ora,

As you all know, the Groups AGM was scheduled to be held during the Tauranga Research Weekend in July. Unfortunately this could not take place as several of our members and Committee were struck down with the flu which would have made it difficult (if not impossible!) for us to form a Quorum.

However as the Committee AGM Reports had already been prepared for Tauranga, we have decided to include them in this issue per usual and before they become too far outdated (I for one freely admit to being far too lazy to rewrite a new report) – these reports all refer to Tauranga, which is obviously not the case.

Despite the Group not being able to hold our AGM as anticipated, several members collaborated under the leadership of Daphne EADES-CAMPBELL to represent the Group whom managed to put on an impressive display under short notice and the difficult circumstances. We extend our sincerest thanks to Daphne, Lorraine RICE and Daniel and Harete PHILLIPS for their support and enthusiasm to ensure the MIG was well represented during the July Research weekend.

The MIG AGM has now been resched-uled as follows:

Saturday 1st August 2009 between 10:30am and 12:00pm – at The Depot, 91 Cambridge Terrace, Papatoetoe.

On the accompanying map opposite, the RSA Bowling Club is at the bottom left hand arrow and The Depot is at the bot-tom right hand arrow.

We hope to see as many of you as possible at this AGM so that we will have a Quo-rum and thus meet our responsibilities as an NZSG Interest Group. Otherwise, please send Brenda your apologies if you are unable to attend.

• In the afternoon Owen ORMSBY, MIG Committee Member, will be giving a talk on Whakapapa research so Saturday 1st August promises to be an interesting day for all of us involved in this area of family his-tory.

Please contact Brenda if you need further information.

All of our online members have been ad-vised of this new meeting date via email, but I very much doubt that the hardcopy issues will make it to these members in time, so we hope to have been able to contact you all by other means.

Please accept the sincerest apologies from the executive for the obvious inconven-ience caused, but I am sure you will all agree that health issues take precedence and any meeting with out a Quorum would have been pointless.

Full details from the August meeting will be in the November issue, but in the meantime we hope that you can make sense of the Reports that follow, despite them not being tabled at the time of writ-ing.

(Editorial Continued on page 6)

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The Group has been invited back to the Thames Expo in May 2010 which we have eagerly accepted as the previous event was such a success.

I am also most grateful for the support from our members this issue, Lorraine and Daphne for their photos and Celia GEARY for her up-date on their Family Reunion in January.

Despite the short notice, please SUPPORT the AGM on the 1st August as your com-mittee has worked hard to bring this to-

gether for you and without a Quorum we have no Maori Interest Group!

Haere Ra

Bruce MATHERS/ Puruhi MATERA August 2009

(Continued from page 5)

MĀORI INTEREST GROUP 2009 AGM REPORTS

To be tabled 1st August 2009

CONVENOR’S ANNUAL REPORT:

Since we met last year we have received four Māori Interest Group newsletters to keep us informed.

Thank you Bruce for producing Te Reo every three months. Their high quality encourages public and university libraries to continue their subscriptions and these help us to buy more resources for our Group.

My thanks go to Brenda JOYCE. She has been a great support this last year as Sec-retary and Treasurer as well as maintain-ing contact with Bruce and myself.

Bruce has also been a great support this

last year as Editor of Te Reo and main-taining our website. Thank you Bruce for your enthusiasm and help.

We are extremely grateful to Celia and Lorraine as our new committee members. We thank all those who sent in articles for Te Reo and those who worked to produce the second edition of our Whakapapa re-search guide.

Kia ora

Peter ALLEN Convenor July 2009

SECRETARY’S ANNUAL REPORT:

We have now got our finan-cial year in line with that of our parent body the NZ Society of Genealogists. We

run from 01 April to 31 March. Conse-quently all reports presented at our 2009

AGM will cover the period 01 April 2008 – 31 March 2009. According to NZSG rules we should hold our AGM shortly after the end of the financial year.

However, because of the widespread geo-graphic nature of our membership it would be impossible to get sufficient

(Continued on page 7)

TE REO PAGE 19

Where possible, please supply all source and/or reference details with any material submitted for inclusion in Te Reo.

a book had been written outlining the history of the GEARY family as it is known. Many photos were taken and are now on 'Facebook'.

At the Reunion in 2009, it was decided at a meeting of the whanau to put a perma-nent marker on the graves of William and Etahi GEARY on the land facing the sea where they had lived and died. It was also decided to proceed through the Maori Land Court to register the GEARY Whanau interest in land which had been granted the three sons of William and Etahi. Neil JURY is endeavouring to do this, but finds there is a lot of red tape to overcome.

The Reunion in January 2009 has fired the interest of many whanau to explore their own particular trail back to their tipuna in Taranaki and to the two remain-ing marae at Oakura and Puniho. I would encourage anyone belonging to the GEARY Whanau, reading this, to make the journey to the marae and learn more about their whakapapa.

Celia GEARY Feilding.

(Continued from page 18)

Oakura Marae

TAURANGA RESEARCH WEEKEND—JULY 2009

As mentioned previously the MIG AGM was not possible during the Tauranga Research Weekend in early July. Nevertheless mem-bers of the Māori Interest Group pulled a display together at short notice and as you can see from the following photos, they did us proud. Sincerest thanks to all those members involved.BM When Brenda sent me an email and said she was ill, I rang Audrey King and said there would be no Maori Table. She said “Oh yes there will and you are it”. So I had to think about it—I had three books on Rotorua by Don STAFFORD.

Māori Deaths from 1866—1920 by the Tauranga Library.

One book by Jack STEADMAN

(Continued on page 21)

TE REO PAGE 18

began farming there and trading with the whalers who called in at Otakou. In the off-season, he grew potatoes which he took to the ports of Wellington and New Plymouth to sell to the new settlers.

On one of these trips in about 1846, he met Etahi TAPUTAI, a Maori woman con-nected to Porikapa Te Wareware, a Taranaki rangitira. Etahi belonged to the Nga Mahanga hapu of the Taranaki iwi. Their land extended from present day New Ply-mouth to Warea on the coast and inland to Mt. Taranaki. When William GEARY took Etahai TAPUTAI back with him to Otakou, she was given a tokotoko korero with the whakapapa carved on it. This is a very tapu taonga in the GEARY whanau and it is taken to hui, tangi, and weddings, also put into the bed of a sick person to this day.

Etahi and William GEARY had three sons, John, (Hone Kere) Thomas (Piri Aotaka) and William (no known Maori name). They moved to a farm at Portobello and there William and Etahi were later buried in a private urupa.

Fifteen years ago the wider GEARY family gathered for a Reunion. The descendants of William and Etahi GEARY were scattered far and wide and it was a great coming to-gether. Many did not know the history of the family at that time and found lots of cousins and aunties and uncles they did not know about.

In January 2009, the family were drawn together again at Portobello where there was much interest in the family trees compiled by Celia GEARY and Doug BRUNTON. Also

(Continued from page 17)

(Continued on page 19)

GEARY Whanau Reunion with Tokotoko and Stone

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members together in any one place other than during the weekend in which NZSG holds its AGM and Conference or Re-search Weekend. Council has granted permission to hold the 2009 Māori Inter-est Group AGM at Tauranga Sunday 5th July.

We applied for registration with the Chari-ties Commission and have since received our certificate. Our number is CC34423.

In October we featured at the Coastlands Paraparaumu family history expo where we had a display table and offered whaka-papa research advice to the public.

I spoke to the Taihape NZSG Branch meeting in March. Family History Month was celebrated the same month at the National Library, Wellington. I was pre-sent for the launch and again provided a display table and offered whakapapa re-search advice to the public. I had a 30min talk back session on Radio Te Upoko O Te Ika where I had the opportu-nity to promote whakapapa research.

December saw the publication of our new, updated guide to whakapapa research. Sales to Branches, individuals, retail book shops, public and university libraries are going well. For details see Financial Re-port.

When the NZ BDM records went on line

the fiche were withdrawn from sale. We judged the timing right and got our order for the fiche in just in time. They cost us $150.00 but they are a valuable resource as many of the records on the fiche are not on line.

Finally, we say goodbye to our Convenor of several years, Peter ALLEN, as he is retiring at this year’s AGM. He has been a stalwart in writing informative and inter-esting items for Te Reo. Sincere thanks for these, Peter, and we wish you well for the future. Huge thanks are also due to our Editor and Webmaster who reliably, throughout the year provides the public face of our Group to a most professional standard. I should like to recognise Owen for writing the thoughtful first section of our revised Whakapapa guide, Lorraine for the proofreading and replying to mem-bers’ requests for research advice and Celia for her articles in Te Reo. Also Ha-rete and Daniel as members of the com-mittee.

Kia kaha

Brenda JOYCE Secretary 5th July 2009

(Continued from page 6)

EDITOR’S & WEBMASTER’S ANNUAL REPORT:

The past twelve months has seen relatively little change in the activity on the website but with a slight increase in the number of hardcopies of Te Reo printed for 2008-2009 at 361 copies (May 2008 to May 2009) compared to 268 copies of the newsletter for the same period last year.

This includes copies for all our hardcopy members (those members who supply SSAE) and several complimentary issues, including some overseas repositories and other institutions and individuals throughout the year - Te Reo is also distributed to 15 Public and University Libraries throughout Aotearoa. For 2008-2009 total print-ing costs amounted to $379.00 which is approximately $1.05 per issue – this also includes additional copies for the public at displays and inserts for the AGM voting papers;

(Continued on page 8)

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• May 2008 50 Hardcopies $66.00 • Aug 2008 70 Hardcopies $73.00 • Nov 2008 56 Hardcopies $64.00 • Feb 2009 65 Hardcopies $92.00* (Incl. 65 AGM Inserts) • May 2009 60 Hardcopies $84.00

Printing receipts have been deposited with the Secretary for inspection. N.B. The Cov-ers and *Inserts on Green reflex are slightly more expensive than the inside B&W pages.

As always we must sincerely thank Edu-ard COWELL for supporting the group by hosting our website www.rcyachts.net/maori free of charge as this American web space does not come cheap and Eddie is an ardent supporter of the group behind the scenes.

As you are all aware, personal, financial, business and family issues meant that I was actively seeking my replacement as your editor during the past few months and former editor Harete PHILLIPS kindly offered to fill the breach. Unfortunately these plans did not come to fruition (ref Editorial Te Reo Noema 2008) and in ac-tual fact only exasperated my situation… nevertheless in recent months events have transpired which have meant that I am now in a situation of more stability to con-tinue as your editor for the time being.

However, this does not negate your re-sponsibility as members to continue to support the newsletter as without your backing there will NOT be the articles and fresh insight we so desperately need in each issue.

Since the 2008 AGM 11 items have been posted on the website which is again consis-tent and indicates steady activity on the website, although I am extremely concerned that very few New Members’ Interests have been posted. See Seven Day trend on next page.

Nevertheless the MIG website remains functional as the portal to our group and realis-tically there is very little that can change on this site as a contacts and information page, although last year’s AGM reports and photos have made a valuable addition to the site, but again I would like to see more research interests posted by our newer members.

(Continued from page 7)

(Continued on page 9)

Eddie COWELL (www.rcyachts.net) 2007

TE REO PAGE 17

2009 GEARY FAMILY REUNION

English and Māori descendants of William GEARY, Settler 1800-1866, & Etahi TAPUTAI gathered on the 10th & 11th January 2009 at Portobello, Otago Peninsula.

This is a photo of the Otakou Marae just north of Portobello on the Otago Peninsula.

The GEARY family was estab-lished near here in 1842. Wil-liam GEARY was born in Not-tingham and transported to Tasmania in 1831, for seven years for trying to steal a bag of wheat to make into bread for his 4 English children.

When he completed his sen-tence, he became a whaler and ended up at Waikouaiti in 1840, working for Johnny JONES. Jones was unable to pay his wages so William

GEARY took a cow in payment, ferrying it across Otago Harbour in a small boat. He (Continued on page 18)

With grateful thanks to Richard STEDMAN—Editor NZG

TE REO PAGE 16

Island being descended from the Ngatimamoe and Ngaitahu tribes, and was a cousin of Solomon Paatu. In 1831 she was in the war between the north and south island Maoris”.

Brenda Joyce has given answers to some questions but I appreciate the opportunity to publish my request through the Maori Special Interest Group. Brenda advised me that the wars were possibly the ‘Musket Wars’ and has supplied book titles to look for in my local library. I tried the NZSG Records Collection regarding the marriages but they were unable to find any records. And I have contacted the Salvation Army.

A friend has given me a hand written whakapapa which I need help in interpreting. I do not know how to interpret the male and female people on the whakapapa and am unable to put any sort of dates to the various events (births, marriages, etc.). I am happy to send a copy to anyone who can help (it covers an A3 sheet), my contact de-tails are below. (Note – this is a Southland whakapapa).

David TUSON Email: david_tuson@actrix.co.nz Postal address: 571 Beechey Street, Pirongia, WKT 3802 New Zealand.

(Continued from page 14)

A WHAKAPAPA QUESTION (REPRINT)

“How can I know who are the men and who the women in a traditional whakapapa chart?”

There is no decided format or way of defining male from female as most names derived from occasions and circumstances as well as hereditary lines. Should one not have knowledge of Te Reo Maori then as has been suggested T (tane) or W (whine) or F or M is indicated. If one is fluent in Te Reo and has knowledge of the hapu/iwi whakapapa then the male and female is generally quite easy to identify. However there can be difficulty here as well as historical knowledge becomes lost or mystical in its connections to humanity.

Again, the best approach is to know or find one's hapu and then whanau within that hapu in order to address the lineage of male and female.

This question is a common frustration within Maoridom. As well as hapu and iwi also look at defining ancestry within their respective boundaries.

Ma te wa, Owen ORMSBY Member of NZSG Māori Interest Group Committee

In the final paragraph above, David asks a common question about a problem most of us have faced in identifying men and women in a Whakapapa.. Below is a possible solution first printed in Te Reo

February 2009 Pg 21 and one I thought appropriate to repeat here.

TE REO PAGE 9

With the help of Eddie and some new software, it is our intention to make further im-provements to the MIG website in coming months and on this regard we are in desper-ate need of your support and some suitable (high resolution) jpeg photos to incorpo-rate in our ideas… these need to be original in theme (Whakapapa, ancestral Whanau & historical) and consistent with our activities and on this regard we seriously need your support. Especially some ‘awesome’ photos from our AGM or of your Tipuna! Please send any suitable photos directly to me.

It is impossible to personally thank everyone who has contributed to the newsletter over the past twelve months so I hope you will please accept this as my personal thanks… I am always indebted to Brenda, Peter and Celia for their support and I would like to take this opportunity to personally thank Peter for his dedication to our group and wish him well for the future in his retirement. Owen ORMSBY has stepped forward as a possible replacement for Peter as Convenor and I feel we will be in capa-ble hands with Owen at the helm under his astute leadership in coming years.

(Continued from page 8)

(Continued on page 10)

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WHAKAPAPA: An introduction to researching Māori and Pākehā-Māori

families, their history, heritage, and culture.

NZSG Māori Interest Group, 2008. 38 pages A4. $18.00 including P&P within New Zealand. Available from the Secretary of the NZSG Māori Interest Group: Brenda Joyce, 17 Peterhouse Street, Tawa, Wellington 5028 or NZSG, PO Box 14036, Pan-mure Auckland 1741.

The first edition of our Whakapapa guide was written nearly three years ago and, mainly because of recent legislation, has become outdated. The committee worked hard last year to write an updated and expanded edition. This was launched at the AFFHO Congress in Auckland, January 2009. It discuses the philosophy underlying whakapapa research and includes many more examples of documents that can be accessed and where to find them, useful websites and suggested answers to many frequently asked questions.

Thank you all again for your support, but please do continue to send in your articles and material for Te Reo 2009-2010. Re-member this is your group and your say and contributions are always welcome.

Finally I must also thank my parents Ron (1939-2009) and Patty MATHERS for their support and encouragement. Dad passed away in mum’s arms at Waihi Hospital on the 5th April this year after a long battle with cancer and you will never know how much we have lost in dad as a silent but extremely dedicated supporter of our group as I am proud of his achievements throughout his life and sincerely thankful for his commitment, support, dependabil-ity and dedication to our group as even with his sight impairment he took the

hardcopy delivery of Te Reo to Brenda with the absolute utmost sincerity.

We are equally fortunate in now having mum who has willingly stepped forward to fill this void.

Good luck with your research in Tauranga 2009 and I look forward to your continuing support of Te Reo in 2010 and beyond.

Haere ra Bruce MATHERS NZSG MIG Editor & Webmaster July 2009

Ronald Clifford MATHERS 27th Feb 1939—5th April 2009

TE REO PAGE 15

TE REO PAGE 14

Above: Tayi Tibble, National Winner of the Māori Battalion Essay Competition. See Te Reo May 2009 Pg 11

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

From: rangikura.school.nz Sent: Tuesday, 9 June 2009 2:10 p.m. To: MaoriSIG@genealogy.org.nz Subject: A Big Thank You

Hello Brenda

Thank you very much for sending us the maga-zine with Tayi's story in it.

She was very impressed and I'm sure it will be the start of a successful published career in writ-ing for her. I really appreciate the time you have taken to do this for her.

Thanks Ondine—Rangikura School

CAN YOU HELP? INFORMATION WANTED—CONTACT SOUGHT

From: David Tuson [mailto:david_tuson@actrix.co.nz] Sent: Tuesday, 23 June 2009 10:43 a.m. To: brenda joyce Subject: Article for magazine

Some years ago I became interested in family history. That interest has developed into a quest to learn more about social history and the lives of those people I am research-ing. One of the more intriguing persons is Meri WEHIKORE. And I am hoping that by summarising my information gathered so far that I can expand on her life story and her whakapapa. This is a request for any information or guidance for further research.

Meri was born around 1809 (possibly in Waikouiti); died on 23/12/1891, and is bur-ied in Riverton Cemetery, Southland. I have discovered two marriages, firstly to James Leader and after his death she remarried to Daniel TE HAOUTU.

The first marriage probably occurred during the 1840s in Riverton (an assumption as their first child was born in 1848). James died in January 1852 (drowned while cross-ing the Apirima River at Riverton). Apparently the Gummies Bush settlement was named after James due to his lack of teeth.

Meri’s marriage to Daniel Te Haotu took place on 18/2/1855 at Jacobs River, Riverton (an assumption as their first child was born in 1856).

I have a copy of her funeral notice from the Riverton newspaper stating: “She had be-longed to the Salvation Army... She was one of the highest ranks of Maori in the South

(Continued on page 16)

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