| From: Makalu2 | Sent: 2/09/2006 6:00 p.m. |
| The End of August in Aotearoa The weather has been difficult for some as the hillsides have had slips. The Maori Queen's tangi was the focus of a sustained coverage and admired by many who watched the 5 hours broadcast. I heard that Aunty Mona, made the trip to Ngaruawahia. In 1972 the Waikato Queen, same lady, came down to Waitara's Manukorihi Pa. Mum was the leader of the Poi Party. We felt for the poi party as the ground/asphalt was very, very cold for the ladies with no shoes on and doing the actions for the 20 minutes or longer, chant.
Darryn sits with Sherrie and Rangi from California on the HMS Belfast in the Pool of London. The Isle of Wight was a trip for the Fentons from Upland a few days ago. Back in June, Darryn and Julie had Val and Courtney also visit the Isle of Wight. I hope that Courtney joins the webpage and shares her photos and that the Upland family of Roger, Sherrie and Rangi join in and load their SMALL size photos, Roger. Joining us is Kerry Taylor, husband of Erlene Both of our cousins are fans of Harley's and Classic Cars. Welcome to our website and I particularly welcome your contributions as the first members of Aunty Rita's family to make the connection. Harper Family: the family of Elizabeth Anne Fenton, the eldest sister of Pop Fenton, has been in email exchanges in the past two weeks. I have been privileged to receive pictures of their family and a huge whakapapa. I'll have to figure out another identity for myself, and it won't be long before I have a fifth share of the membership of our webpage in order to put up the photos!!! I reckon that some of us know that we've got photos of the Harper family. I had thought that there was only Charlie Harper and his daughter Marj often came to Waitara to stay up at the farm. Lo and behold, I was very wrong; that Charlie was the grandson of Pop's sister; that means as Pop was 12 years younger than sister Elizabeth and another generation is ahead of us. That means that Elizabeth's greatgrandson, Ron and down the road lives his brother Terry living in Glenfield, Auckland Kingston arrived back and voided the flight to Heathrow as more time would have been spent in security checks than in the whole day visit that he had wanted. Roger had originally dedicated the Saturday as the Boys' Day Out. Kingi said that the organisation at the world parachute champsionships was 'world class'. He and his team mates dubbed in and bought furniture for their competition tent: a huge carpet rectangle, lava lamp, coffee table, 12-seater curved sofa, 4 lazyboys, pot plants and had a home-away-from-home with these purchases from either the secondhald shop or new. They had a display photo of a huge plasma tv screen but had an actual refrigerator to hold their supplies of milk and lemonade and water. Yeah right |
1 comment:
From: raf (Roger Fenton) Sent: 20/10/2006 7:23 p.m.
It was an interesting time for 1972 at the marae with a bit of a cold wind blowing from the south, an overcast sky, typical of a wintery day in Taranaki. Correct me if I am wrong but I believe it was Sir Maui Pomare day, with many Pakeha and Maori gathered to honour this man. After the customary greetings of visitors and speeches, the excitement felt amongst the crowd was the anticipation of seeing the action group. It was a surprise for me to see the women who assembled and the beauty of the pio pio's with the embroidered bodices with the white feather. The size of some of the tiki's were bigger than any I had ever seen. It was colourful sight to watch them assemble and jostle into position. The action group had not been together since their youth and after a few quick rehearsals off to the side, they stepped into the centre of attention and began their chants. It was a bit unusual watching the younger girls step into the rhtym with gusto and smiles, with the occasional mis-timing followed by a giggle and nudge from their neighbour. In contrast the older ladies maintained a solemn chant knowing the words without hesitation, the drum pounding out as constant loud tempo; a drum that was last played many years ago at a historic site for the Taranaki maori, a pa called Parihaka. The crowd settled into the familiar songs and chants, getting caught up in the soul of the event, appreciating every second. Some were tapping their feet, some singing along, some curious with the newness, some crying with emotion, but everyone feeling the charge of energy; it made me feel alive with adrenaline. I could feel it in my bones: I had been away too long from my people.
At the end of their chants, I had to get their picture right away as this chance may not come again to capture them in a group photo. Despite many protests because of the cold wind they relented and pulled off their coats. The only logical place to frame them was the backdrop of Sir Maui Pomare. I snuggled them in, exchanged a few positions for balance and did my best to get the older ladies to smile, but to no avail, so I took the shot, asked for a few more then was promptly told to "bloody hurry up". My first shot wouldnt work as I had forgotten to wind the film to the next frame. Patience please ladies, work with me for a couple more shots. But my time was up and the moment had passed. The coats came on and the drum went away. Richard came up to me all dressed up with a thick long coat not feeling the freeze surrounding us, "Well Rog, you were lucky to get that, but you came here all the way from America just for the steam pudding, didn't you!"
Many years later while at Owae marae I glanced up at the walls of the eating house, surprised to see a familiar picture, enlarged and framed. I had completeley forgotten all about it. I was proud of the faces in the frame and pleased to have witnessed this rare event in its natural element of the Waitara Pa. Take a look at it the next time you are there. There are many stories behind each of those faces.
Roger
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