pacificEyeWitness.org

Gone too soon. Hawea Ralph Drummond Vercoe, age 36, father of six children, of Ngati Awa and Te Arawa iwi. He lived in Rotorua, Bay of Plenty, Aotearoa New Zealand.

• School Principal, Te Kura Kaupapa Maori o Rotoiti, Rotorua
• Councillor, Environment Bay of Plenty, Okurei Maori Seat
• Member, Rotorua District Council’s Te Arawa Standing Committee
• Former General Election candidate for Destiny Church
  

On his last day alive,  Vercoe and his children were visiting his parents  in Whakatane  for the weekend.   On Saturday night, he headed out to catch up with friends at a local bar. In the early hours of Sunday morning, he was killed outside the Quart House  Bar.   A male reportedly punched Vercoe, out of the blue, as he walked towards a pedestrian crossing. Bar owner Grant Webb, who was not working on the night but has viewed CTV footage, said the attack appeared to be completely unprovoked.

His tangi is reportedly being held at Tuteao Marae, Te Teko, Whakatane.  A 21-year-old is appearing in the Whakatane District Court this morning charged with murder.

He Poroporoaki: Hawea Vercoe

By TangataWhenua.com on November 23, 2009

Ma te tuku o te roimata me te hupe kia rere, kia ea te ngau o mate, o aitua. Haere ki tua o te arai! Haere ki o tipuna! Haere ki te Po! Haere ki te Po!

Tributes have been flooding in at the shock and saddness of the death of Hawea Vercoe. The Maori Party expressed their profound shock at hearing of the death of prominent school principal and local body politician.

Hawea was a young man with enormous energy for life who had achieved a significant profile across Aotearoa in education, politics and local government,” Maori Party MP for Waiariki Te Ururoa Flavell said.

“Hawea was extremely proud to be principal of Te Kura Kaupapa Maori o Rotoiti and was committed to ensuring the children attending his kura were educated in the widest sense of the word. He took them to the hikoi against the police raids on terrorism; he involved the kura in the launching of Google Maori; and he advocated for his kura to be allowed Maori signs on their buses – a stand which led to a policy change by Land Transport New Zealand”.

Hawea had also called for Maori wards to be established in Rotorua where he had been an active member of Rotorua District Council’s Te Arawa standing committee as well as a councillor for the Environment Bay of Plenty Okurei Maori seat.  Hawea was incredibly talented and passionate about all that he did. He was a candidate for Destiny Church in the 2005 elections; an outspoken Daily Post columnist and even the recent competition that saw him, Pouroto Ngaropo and Ruiha Ruwhiu take out the winning team for Ngati Awa as New Zealand’s top debating iwi.

“Our thoughts are with his whanau, hapu and iwi of Ngati Awa and Te Arawa and the greater community of Te Kura Kaupapa Maori o Rotoiti who will greatly feel the loss of this dynamic leader – a young man lost in the prime of his life.”

To read more

NZ Human Rights Commission Acknowledgement September 2006

From the Race Relations Commissioner for positive contributions to race relations in New Zealand.

Land Transport New Zealand and Te Kura Kaupapa Maori o te Rotoiti

For introducing appropriate bus signage for Te Kura Kaupapa Maori o te Rotoiti.

When Hawea Vercoe, the Tumuaki of Te Kura Kaupapa Maori o te Rotoiti placed a KURA sign on his school’s new school buses, he had no idea that it was against the school bus signage rules administered by Land Transport NZ. After all, the official name for Maori language immersion schools is kura kaupapa, and Maori is an official language of New Zealand.

But Land Transport NZ said the signs had to be in English. After a lot of media publicity and a bit of to-ing and fro-ing, a meeting between Roger Maxwell, Manager for Cultural Relationships at Land Transport NZ and Hawea Vercoe sorted the matter out. The sign, accompanied by the international symbol for school children, was approved and thus paves the way for the recognition of kura (and perhaps other Maori words) in our road safety signage.

Congratulations to Hawea for raising the issue, and Land Transport NZ for being flexible enough to approve the change. Now even our many non-English speaking tourist drivers will be able to recognise these buses as vehicles transporting children and will therefore exercise caution when the bus stops to allow the children to embark or disembark.

Ia manuia lou malaga