On The Up: Northland Māori trust revitalises land, wins national award
Whangaroa Ngaiotonga Trust - represented by trustees Carla Martin and Morris Pita, farm worker Kieran Wetere-Hepi, farm manager Matt Payne and administrator Tori Norman - is achieving great things on its Whangaruru block.
The success of Northland farming operation Whangaroa Ngaiotonga Trust is about so much more than being profitable, it is also about empowering the thousands of descendants of whānau who used to live on the whenua.
The trust, which manages a 1100ha block in Ngaiotonga, Whangaruru, has won the national Māori
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NZ Herald
3 days ago
- NZ Herald
On The Up: Northland Māori trust revitalises land, wins national award
Whangaroa Ngaiotonga Trust - represented by trustees Carla Martin and Morris Pita, farm worker Kieran Wetere-Hepi, farm manager Matt Payne and administrator Tori Norman - is achieving great things on its Whangaruru block. The success of Northland farming operation Whangaroa Ngaiotonga Trust is about so much more than being profitable, it is also about empowering the thousands of descendants of whānau who used to live on the whenua. The trust, which manages a 1100ha block in Ngaiotonga, Whangaruru, has won the national Māori
RNZ News
4 days ago
- RNZ News
Kai Kara-France hopes to make history as the first Māori UFC flyweight champion
Kai Kara-France after his win against Tyson Nam in 2020. Photo: photosport When Kai Kara-France steps into the octagon, he brings the warrior spirit of all his ancestors with him. The Kiwi mixed martial artist is out to make history this month with a shot at becoming the first ever Māori UFC flyweight champion. Kara-France (Ngāti Tūwharetoa, Ngāti Kahungunu, Te Ati Awa), said he feels bullet-proof carrying his culture into the cage. "I channel it when I step in there, and it gives me a lot of clarity and gives me clear intentions that I can do this. When I'm in there, there's no team to hide behind, but I'm not alone. I have all my tipuna behind me and it just allows me to kind of go inwards. I don't have to go looking for answers. It's always in me. "It's my identity, it's my anchor. Fighting is my mahi, it's what people know me as. But long before I was a fighter, that's the reason why I'm a fighter, is because of my ancestors, my, and that's the blueprint I go off because they would've been navigating and all these challenges that they've had to go through." Since entering the UFC in 2018, Kara-France has proudly showcased Māoridom to the world. "That's what makes our culture so beautiful. So what I'm doing now in the modern day, I bring culture with me and I want to let everyone know where I come from and I'm very proud of it, be unapologetically Māori, and what better way than to become the first flyweight Māori champion? And if I don't do it, who else will?" Kara-France said he was chasing mana for his sons. "That's what's fuelling me. When I'm in there, I'm that warrior version of myself. When I'm back home with my family, I'm that sensitive, compassionate, unconditional love that I give to my wife and my two boys. It's being able to navigate those different roles and responsibilities as a man to let a younger generation that you can do it all and there is a time and place for everything, but also just prioritising what is important, and that's culture, that's whānau. "I want to win this belt, defend a few times, and step away from the sport with a brain. Go up north, put my feet up, go fishing, hunting, and just live off the land and know that I've got no regrets, and show my boys that are looking up to me that their dad went out there and he chased his dreams." Kara-France wanted to inspire not only his sons, but all rangatahi. "When I first started, there wasn't a fight scene here. It was very underground. People used to see it as savage or thugs and it's cool to see that kind of support around us and know that the next generation is saying, 'I don't want to just be an All Black, I want to be a UFC fighter like Izzy or Kai or Dan.' It's cool that we're leaving that legacy behind." UFC 317 Kai Kara-France vs Alexandre Pantoja UFC Flyweight title 29 June New Zealand UFC flyweight Kai-Kara France. Photo: Facebook - Kai Kara France Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
Otago Daily Times
6 days ago
- Otago Daily Times
Doffing his cap to history
My oldest boy wanted to please his dad when he was young and one way to his dad's heart was through rugby. My husband never enjoyed actually playing rugby, but he had a love for the game. He would get the kids up in the early hours of the morning to watch a game or go to a game at the stadium, there was regular screaming at the screen about a losing Highlanders side, poor refereeing, or legendary All Black tries. It was a culture in our house, but it was also a wider family culture too. I was raised as if rugby were a religion, watching it but being schooled on the fact that the art of rugby surged through our veins and that we have an extensive history and ownership with the game. My great uncle was a bit of a rugby legend and, in fact, we have others who come from Ōtākou, clearly we were made for the game. Thomas Rangiwahia Ellison was born in 1866 and was to become one of New Zealand's most famous rugby sons. About 1881 he was introduced to rugby football by his cousins at Ōtākou — Jack Taiaroa, who was to become a prominent member of the first New Zealand rugby team in 1884, and Riki Taiaroa, who later joined Ellison in the touring Native team of 1888-89. In 1882, Tom was sent to Te Aute College, Hawke's Bay, where he played for the senior team in 1883 and 1884. His first international honours came with the New Zealand Native Football Team, a professional side, which toured Great Britain and Australia in 1888-89. Initially a forward and later a wing, Ellison played half-back for Pōneke in 1891, and from that experience developed the wing-forward, or flanker, position to block interference with passing from the base of the scrum. The system was quickly adopted throughout New Zealand; it was superseded by the eight-man scrum in 1932. In 1893, Ellison captained the first official New Zealand team and he proposed that the uniform be a black jersey with silver fern monogram — this was similar to the old Native team uniform — and in 1901 it became the familiar All Black uniform. In 1902 he published The Art of Rugby Football , an early rugby coaching manual. Eventually, Ellison took a keen interest in Kāi Tahu land claims: he was appointed an interpreter in the Native Land Court in 1886 and stood three times for the Southern Maori seat in Parliament. From 1891 he worked as a solicitor and, from 1902, as a barrister in the Wellington law firm Brandon, Hislop and Johnston, he was admitted to the Bar, one of the first Māori to attain that distinction. He became a familiar figure commuting to work from Eastbourne in one of the first motor cars seen in Wellington. Ellison died a young man in 1904 and was buried at Ōtākou. I grew up with these legendary stories about our great rugby players and our family have produced many more talented players. It's probably a fair call to say, it's an Ellison thing — he momo. So, circling back to my son, a descendant of all that rugby whakapapa, who, like most Kiwi lads, started playing rugby when he was 5. I will confess that I was fairly unenthusiastic about the whole thing. Cold Saturdays, injuries, intense sideline parenting and the perceived culture of it all just didn't flick my switch. However, I made all efforts to support him. The thing is, my son wasn't a natural rugby player. He struggled to keep up, he wasn't overly interested in the game and, like the rest of my children, he really doesn't have that competitive killer attitude that is required on the field ... I mean, I was just happy he was getting a run. However, apart from one year that we put him into football, he played rugby, year in, year out. Ultimately, he just loved the brotherhood, the team camaraderie, the banter, the laughs and he really got a kick out of his team winning and his team-mates doing well. I think perhaps the coaches got a laugh, too, out of coaching my son, as he was pretty entertaining. He went away to his Māori boys boarding school in the North Island a few years ago now, as he is in his last year. He continued to play the game at school, and I just assumed it was expected that he did. He naturally got taller and leaned out, he trained a bit at school and kept in it. He took on basketball too and loves the game but still played rugby. He said his life would flash before him on a Saturday as massive boys with killer attitudes would come running at him. In some regards, I am glad I have never had to watch this rugby warfare with my beautiful boy in the middle of it. Through all his rugby trials and tribulations, he said the one thing he wanted was to make his dad proud and get that 1st XV cap, and he has done it. In two weeks' time he gets his wish, presented with his cap by his pōua (grandfather) at his school. So, with that, my son gets to acknowledge the journey in the game, the injuries, the wins, the losses, the growth, his brotherhood, his tūpuna, his dad and, finally, his cousin Taiaroa, also a descendant of these Ōtākou rugby legends, whose amazing rugby talent has been halted by cancer. This is my son's salute.
