Applicants must be descended from an original Nga¯ti Kahungunu ki Wairarapa owner of the Mangakino/ Pouakani lands and certification must be obtained of that descent from the Wairarapa Moana Trust

WAIRARAPA MOANA mailer WAIRARAPA MOANA TRUST NEW TRUSTEE PROFILE

Justina Webster

Justina is of the hapu¯ of Nga¯ti Pa¯rera and Nga¯ti Te Korou. She was born and raised in Masterton and was educated at Masterton East School, Hiona Intermediate and Makoura College.

Justina later moved to Palmerston North with her two young sons Sharn and Jordan to study at Massey University. While in Palmerston North she graduated with a Bachelor of Social Work (hons) and a Post Graduate Diploma in Arts (distinction).

Justina has worked in a variety of positions ranging from senior researcher on a HRC/ FORST funded rangatahi hauora project with Te Ru¯ nanga o Raukawa Inc; residential social worker; managing the social services at Highbury Wha¯nau Centre; to being a lecturer/ tutor at Massey University’s School of Health and Social Services.

During this time, a daughter Aria Jade was welcomed into the wha¯nau.

Justina also provides external supervision to a number of practitioners in the Manawatu – Wellington regions. She often returns to Massey University to support social service supervision pathways.

More recently Justina has moved to Wellington to project manage two training and education programmes with Te Rau Matatini and their newly-established PTE. The two programmes are Parahia te Ara¯: Ma¯ori Health Promotion and Te Whakauruora: Restoration of Health: Ma¯ori Suicide Prevention.

Justina is grateful for this opportunity and wishes to express thanks to the wha¯nau for their guidance and tautoko. Mauri ora ki te wha¯nau.

Catching Tuna Carbide Lamp by

My uncles, Te Ama o Te Rangi (John) Kokiri and Retima Te Kama (George) Paewai used to take me out at night with them to catch tuna.

Uncle George and Aunty Piripi (Phyllis-nee Ngatuere) lived at the end of Andersons Line in Carterton. The original house in Andersons Line was owned by Joe Akuira Paewai. He married Ruihi (Lucy) Namana. Her first marriage was to my granduncle Te Hekenui Reiri.

Uncle George built a new house there with aunty Phyllis. His father Joe lived with them until his passing.

It was from uncle George’s home that we would walk through the paddocks to the Mangatarere River which at the best of times was nothing more than a creek.

As it got dark we would light up the carbide lamps. The lamp produced a light with a sulphur-like smell and a muffled bubbling sound from inside the top half of the lamp. The lamps weren’t all that strong but it gave us enough light to see the creek bottom.

I only had shoes to wear to school and for important occasions, otherwise bare feet were the national footwear. Once we entered the river we would slowly walk upstream into clear water looking for tuna with our lamps and when we saw a tuna, we would hook them with our gaffs. Back then, the Mangatarere was quite a fast-flowing creek. There weren’t many pools but there were a few eels there, not many and they weren’t all that big but there was enough there for a kai.

My job was to drag the bag along in the water until it was full of tuna. When we got back to uncle George’s whare, we would hang the tuna on the fence to bleed and then we would gut and fillet them (mahi pa¯whara) and then they were hung on the fence to dry. When all our mahi was done, we would have a cup of tea with bread and butter and jam.

Uncle John and I would then bike back to Nukutaimemeha, our wha¯nau wharenui in Lincoln Road, Carterton. When I think about it now, we never used the carbide lamps to light our way home, we just biked home in the dark. But back then, we were lucky to have a bike.

The Pa¯keha¯ neighbours thought it quite amusing to see tuna hanging on the fence and would come over and see what uncle George was up to but when the tuna were ready, we would go back and take some back home for a kai.

Nukutaimemeha, that’s where I grew up and lived in the late 1950s and those great adventurous nights out catching tuna with my uncles, are wonderful memories that still remain with me today.