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Pipiwharauroa 'Gisborne Kiwi Day 2013'
Kōrero Time with Mātai Smith
Kei ngā tini whānaunga i te wā kāinga tēnā ra koutou katoa. This month I’m pleased to report on a recent excursion I made across the ditch. For years now I’d heard about this event that everyone kept saying was one that you ‘must attend,’ especially if you were from Gisborne. “Gizzy Day” has now become a regular event for not just the many ex Gisbornites living abroad but also now by many Māori and New Zealanders keen to connect back home via a day of whakawhanaungatanga and whakangahau. Gizzy Day 2013 was held at the Kingston Butter Factory in the suburb of Logan, Brisbane and, this year, attracted thousands through its gates. I had the opportunity to interview the chief organiser as he was setting up the stage, he’s the man who’s been instrumental in coordinating the day and was more than happy to talk us through its colourful history. Willie James Wharehinga may be a name familiar to some of you back home although some of you may know him as William Ward. However over in Brizzy most know him simply as ‘Willie James.’ “My Dad is Tamihana Tom Ward, he was born and raised in Tikapa on the East Coast, his father was Bill Ward and his mother was Joyce Ward nee Kirikino. He had eight siblings but upon my grandfather's passing all of the kids were bought up by aunties and uncles and later my grandmother Joyce remarried John Sadlier and had another six tamariki to him. I lived with my grandparents at 169 Crawford Rd for a time while my Mum and Dad were away working in the shearing sheds and that was a life experience in itself as being brought up by our kaumatua can be. My mother is Mona Kiriti Wharehinga, she was born and raised in Waipiro Bay also on the East Coast. her father was Rawhira Haua Wharehinga and her mother was Pipi Matehaere Kururangi. When my grandmother passed away my Koro remarried Marara Wilkie nee Northover.” But just when you start to ask about those familiar coast names like Wharehinga, Willie James interrupts me and continues on to make even more connections back home. “My Koro lived in Tokomaru Bay and my parents worked on several stations in the areas of Puketiti, Fernside and finally Mangahauini which brought us closer to my Koro and Nanny on my mother’s side and also our Wilkie whānau in Tolaga Bay, these are all the whānau I whakapapa to back home. On my Mother’s side there are the Wharehinga, Kururangi, Toheriri, Moeke, Haley, Riwai, Raroa and Atkins and on my father’s side, Te Maro, Rangihuna, Sadlier, Grant, Kirikirino, Brown, Fraser, Horomia, Ward, Raroa and Haenga.”
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So whānau that sounds like a connection to almost every single one of us eh? As Willie continues to set up his electric keyboard on stage for Gizzy Day, people are already arriving to set up their tents to get the prime spots for what promises to be an entertaining day. As Willie plugs in his microphone and adjusts the stand, he delves into his fond memories of growing up in Gizzy but I will let him continue with his own story as follows:
“We moved to Gisborne from the East Coast when I was about seven years old in 1967 and lived in several locations such as Disraeli Street, Parau Street and Wainui Road but we eventually settled at 62 Dalton St, Kaiti where we stayed until we left New Zealand. I shifted to Aussie in 1982 and my parents followed Whānau gather for Gizzy Day 2013 in 1989. Prior to leaving my father Eventually it was my love for music as well as the worked in the hide house at the freezing works and my Mum was a cook firstly at the Gosford “love for my Mrs” that saw me, a former true blue then the Nan King and finally at the Lyric Restaurant Coastie and Gizzy Boy, move across the ditch to where she worked for 23 years before coming over to start a new life for myself. I was very fortunate that Australia. She’s probably cooked you a feed at some on my first day in Australia I met up with a Māori time or another, she always made a feed for Buster entertainer, had dinner at his house and afterwards if the waitresses came into the kitchen saying he was had a jam at his house. We performed on the Gold outside, my Mum would cook him some fish ‘n chips Coast the very next night and I’ve been flat out for the last 30 years ... just lucky I guess. with eggs and a slice or two of bread thrown in. My memories of growing up in Gisborne are all beautiful, I look at my kids and mokopuna now and I so wish that they could experience growing up the way we all did, life was so easy back then, we made our own fun. We played on the street, we didn’t need money to have fun as we made our own from something as simple as sliding down Kaiti Hill on a piece of cardboard to climbing a big pine tree or going to the river for a swim. Even pinching fruit from Laheys Orchard or going for long bike rides that took all day long and getting a clip from the ol’ man for getting home late was so much fun! I went to Central School for a year or two until we moved to Kaiti where I went to Waikirikiri then moved onto Ilminster and ended up at Lytton High cos they had girls there and we all loved them eh! I flunked out of school at 15 and started my life’s journey up in the Wharerata forests for a while. From there I worked for Robbie Cooper in the sheds followed by a short spurt with Bub Ngarongione before starting at the Freezing Works. That was everybody’s dream job back in the day and during the ‘off-season’ when the works closed down I worked on a farm out at Ngatapa with my Dad. I joined my first band ‘Soundproof’ when I was about 17 and we played at all the local haunts such as the DB, Roseland Tavern, Ploughmens Bar, The Sandown and the River Bar. I also played in the backing band for the Country Club and the Rock n Roll Club which was another life experience that, although I didn’t realise it at the time, was actually providing me with my grounding in the music industry and was to hold me in good stead for the rest of my life.
There weren’t that many challenges moving over to Australia in the early 1980s apart from the usual stuff such as finding work, housing and the like. It’s still the same as today but everything was a lot easier then and cheaper. It was like $52,000 for a three bedroom high set including a granny flat underneath with a shower and toilet as well as a huge pool and undercover entertainment area. Couldn’t do that now, a house would start off at $300,000 and it would be very average. It’s also much harder for Kiwis coming over here due to the exceptionally high numbers of immigrants currently living in Aussie. It’s also harder to stay here as kiwis are no longer entitled to any benefits or medical services. Play up and they’ll kick you out at the drop of a hat. Straight up, nowhere near as good as the Aussies get it when they move to New Zealand, that’s not fair dinkum eh Mātai?”he says. As Willy James chuckles away with a Billy T James type laugh I ask him about the event itself and ponder why it’s held in such a random place like Logan. Logan City is by far one of the biggest and fastest growing suburbs in Brisbane and it is centre point for all who arrive here from New Zealand, unless of course you have whānau you’re going to be staying with who live elsewhere. Although it’s classed in the lower levels of the socio-economic table in Brisbane, if you ask anyone who lives there they will say it’s great and it is! “We’ve lived in or around this area for 28 years and it has been awesome. There’s plenty here to make you feel at home, Māori entertainers and bands playing in all the local clubs and pubs and other forms of hui. We have a Hangi Pit and Taste NZ and of course this major event, Gizzy Day. There’s a Kiwi shop on every second corner where you can buy your home supplies and there are kaimoana wholesalers all over the place selling kina, mussel, mutton bird treats as well as a plethora of multicultural festivals happening with kapa haka regularly on display. “Simply going to the shop for milk and bread can turn into an hour long trip of saying “Kia ora” to whānau and friends and you are guaranteed to have sore eye brows from doing the ol Māori salute to the scores of Māori you will see where ever you go!”
Me with Adelaide and Alby Waititi from Waihau Bay now residing in Brisbane.
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