Te Manawa o Tūhoe Trust Annual General Meeting

Beneficiaries of Te Manawa o Tūhoe Trust are advised that there will be a general meeting of the Trust on Saturday 19 December 10.30am at Ngāhina Marae, Rūātoki. The business of the meeting is to present the accounts of the Trust and to give reports on the Trust’s activities. The meeting will elect advisory trustees. There have been major developments in the Trust: the purchase of Hatupere South Dairy farm and the building of a new cow shed so the farm is now milking twice the numbers of cows it milked last year. The expanded farm has the capacity to grow to be one of the largest dairy farms in New Zealand. It is large enough to be able to appoint a farm manager. The Trust’s other major asset is its forestry and here too the news is good.

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New Board

The new Trust board has held its first “in person” Board meeting; a three day meeting where the Board received a comprehensive review of all the Board’s activities from staff and contractors. The Trust has a wide range of investments ranging from forestry to commercial properties in Auckland. The Board provides scholarships, grants and sponsorship. The Board has also been the principal funder of the iwi’s Waitangi Tribunal claims so the Board members had a lot of information to absorb. There are big issues facing the Board over the next three years as Tuhoe move to finalise the treaty claim.

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Chairman and Deputy Chair

Te Tokawhakaea Tēmara was re elected Chairman; Aubrey has now been chair since 1996; before that he was Deputy Chairman. His father Makarini Tēmara was also Chairman of the Board; a remarkable family record of service to Tūhoe. Aubrey was elected unopposed by the Ruatāhuna Division. Jennifer Takuta-Moses is the Deputy Chair. Jennifer is a new board member from the Waikaremoana Division. The previous Deputy Chair was Karlite Rangihau, also from Waikaremoana who did not stand for re election.

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Tūhoe serving Tūhoe

Do you have a business or a service you provide? The Board has decided to offer a new service to Tūhoe. A register of Tūhoe owned businesses where Tūhoe looking for a product or service can look up. It will be a new page on the website, “The Tūhoe Economy”. We are compiling a data base of Tūhoe businesses. Contact Hinerau Rameka to register your business or commercial service Hinerau@tuhoe.iwi.nz or call 07 348 6911 or 027 3296 5411.

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Jobs, training and opportunities

We are also going to be registering jobs and training that our beneficiaries are eligible to apply for. Let comms@tuhoe.iwi.nz know of any jobs you want us to put up on the jobs page. Our first job is a significant one. We will soon be advertising for a farm manager for the Hatupere farm. Experience is essential as this job is managing, what will become, one of the biggest dairy farms in New Zealand with at least 2000 cows! It will be the biggest farm in the Bay of Plenty. These positions will start next year. Keep an eye on the website www.tuhoe.iwi.nz

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'Encircled Lands’

Judith Binney’s new book Encircled Lands, Te Urewera, 1820 -1921 is being launched at Waikirikiri Marae, Ruatoki 30 November at 11 am. This much awaited new history of Tūhoe includes many new sources including accounts by Tūhoe leaders. The research is so thorough that extracts from the book were accepted as evidence in the Tūhoe Waitangi Tribunal claim. Dr. Wharehuia Milroy says this about this important book; “When the Tūhoe chief Paora Kingi I was on his deathbed in about 1835, he issued the following words, ‘Kia tawharautia a Mataatua’. The intent was to ensure that where Tūhoe was concerned, the sovereignty of its lands must remain sacrosanct. The abiding direction was that Tūhoe must sustain and maintain ‘mana motuhake’. This book takes the reader through Tūhoe trials and tribulations in a way which no other history book on Maori has ever achieved”.

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Know Your Board

Puke Timoti, Ruatāhuna division, is the youngest ever board member. Puke is an architect. A former presenter of Tū Wera, a Māori Television programme for Māori youth. Puke lives in Ruatāhuna with his family. He was elected unopposed. According to the New Zealand Film & TV website, Puke has “dabbled in tutoring Māori, kapa haka, training horses, playing rugby and hunting all manner of wild beasts”.

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