Shane Walker (rugby league, born 1978)

Transcription

Wielding a taiaha. Establishing a Maori-immersion school. Establishing an urban marae. The Minister of Maori Affairs. Though I may be better known for something else - my unique style of dress and the way I style my hair. From the time I was at university, I have always had long hair, because when it came to kapa haka competitions, I would tie it up in a topknot. As far as I know, I was the first that did this. Right up like this, but now I'm losing all my hair. Some say it's a mullet, but I reckon it's just long hair. In 1978, I went to England. I was carrying around so much rubbish, so I decided to get a belt bag. I came back to NZ, and to this day I still wear it. Sometimes the media tell me to take it off for filming purposes, but I never do. I keep it on no matter what. I know I have a unique style. That's OK, but I'm really attached to my belt bag...! Where is it now? I must've taken it off. When I was a teenager, I always wanted to roll my jeans up and wear a tipare (headband) no matter where I went to. I still want to dress like that now. I was born at Waipawa, Ngati Kahungunu, but my home was at Takapau, in the Hawke's Bay. The town was made up of half Pakeha and half Maori. Pakeha had the land, while Maori would shear their sheep. My father is Pakeha. His ancestors are from England. My mother was of Te Kikiri o te Rangi, a hapu of Ngati Kahungunu, Te Whatuiapiti. My mother had seven of us all up. One of our houses was on Sydney St. It was the oldest house in Takapau. We had no electricity, no running water. We were very poor in those days, living in Takapau. But that was the house where all the kids came to play. My first school was Takapau Area School, a mainstream school. We weren't a well off family. There wasn't enough money for me to go to Te Aute College, but I was picked to go to England, to a scout jamboree, seeing as I was almost a Queen Scout. That's when my father gave me the option of either going to England or going to Te Aute College. I was quick to choose Te Aute College. The school prided itself on rugby; a lot of my uncles from Takapau attended Te Aute. When I started at Te Aute, I was fifth form, so I wasn't allowed to take up Maori, because I was already in my third year. So I started to listen to some of the other boys who were speaking Maori at supper time. "Pass the knife." "Give that thing to me." It was then that I started to learn Maori. There were eight of us prepping the vegetables for tomorrow's supper. While we were doing the work, the best player of our 1st XV rugby team, a huge guy, asked me, "Why do you stand in the front row of the haka group?" Because I was a gun at the haka! "You can't even speak Maori!" And because he laughed at me, all the other boys did too. I was so embarrassed at not being able to speak Maori. I thought to myself, "I'm definitely going to learn how to speak Maori "so I can come back and smoke you!" That's what I was thinking at that time. I had no idea about university, about Teacher's College, but my father and the entire family told me to go to university. I really wanted to go to Auckland University, and I was the first from Takapau to go there. When I arrived in Auckland, I couldn't speak Maori or English well. I had no friends, and I was homesick, so I'd cry even though I was 20- no, 19 years old. When I got to uni, I met Hoani Waititi and the leaders of those times at Teacher's College. And I was there pursuing my BA. I was the only student from Te Aute there, and because Hoani Waititi also attended Te Aute, I was his favourite while he was there. When I received my first degree, a Bachelor of Arts, Pat Hohepa moved to the US for his PhD, so he gave me his house to live in. I ended up having a family. My first wife, Aroha Paenga, was from the East Coast. Te Keepa was our first child, and he was born in 1963. Our children were raised in Te Atatu North. All the Maori that moved to Te Atatu didn't know how to live in the big city. In 1967, the marae committee was established, and in 1968, Te Ropu Manutaki was founded. In one of the first kapa haka competitions we competed in, we were lucky enough to win, with Te Kauri coming second. Te Ropu Manutaki went to the first national competition at Rotowhiu, Rotorua. We had been to every single nationals up until this year. This year was the first time we didn't make nationals. But there's always next year! It was a lot of work establishing the marae here. Although some Maori didn't want to help out, we still did it. We didn't receive any financial support from the government, so we fundraised it all by selling cars and raffles. I even ran a marathon in a time when people didn't run marathons. I ran with Gideon Tait - he was the Police Commissioner back then - and Murray Halberg. We ran to fundraise for this marae. The dining hall was opened in 1976, and the meetinghouse, Nga Tumanako, was opened in 1980. The first visitors were welcomed at 7.30am, and visitors were still being welcomed on at 3.30pm. There were no speeches from the visitors, as buses kept on arriving from Te Whanau-a-Apanui and other iwi from all over the country. All of our food for the entire week had been eaten on the first day. We didn't have any food for three days. All of it was gone on the first day. Masses of people turned up because of the influence of Hoani Waititi. Most of us that helped establish the marae were Teacher's College students. We knew Hoani Waititi and were familiar with his work, so we went to Te Whanau-a-Apanui and asked if we could use his name, Hoani Waititi, for the marae. At first they didn't agree, but because I knew June Mariu as well as Hoani Waititi, they eventually agreed. The kohanga had been here for three years. My partner of that time and I were working there. Once the kids moved on from kohanga to mainstream schools, the other students would laugh at them speaking Maori. They didn't understand the principles of the school - there was nothing done in the morning, they didn't bless the food and there were no formal greetings. None of the fundamentals from kohanga were in mainstream schools. Some of our kids were so frustrated that they left. So we decided to establish a school here to follow on from kohanga reo. We went to the Ministry of Education and told them that we wanted to build a Maori-immersion school. They said, "You don't build schools. We do." "Yes, that's why we have come. We want a Maori-immersion school." "We don't build Maori-immersion schools." "That's what I'm trying to tell you - we want to build the school." "Is that right?" "Yes, that's right!" It was annoying, but that's how it went. We ended up getting a building from Papakura, though we had no money. But it had a lot of windows, and it looked great, so we moved it here to the marae. My next goal was to get Katerina Mataira to be the principal. She was an experienced writer of children's books, she established Te Ataarangi, and we had worked alongside each other before. I felt she was the right person for the job. We went to her house in Raglan and asked her to move up to Auckland to help out with establishing the school. She said, "Let's have a cup of tea." We had a cuppa, and I said, "So, what do you think?" "Let's go diving for seafood." Well, so we went diving and came back. "What a beautiful day! Let's go for a walk." We were there for three days! So on the fourth day I told her, "We're going back home now." "So, what do you think? Are you interested?" "I'll ring you about it." My partner and I arrived back in Auckland, and I told her, "I'm pissed off with her. "Three days we were there, and she didn't give me an answer!" Two weeks later, Katerina called me to say she'd purchased a house in Auckland. She told me, "I'll give two and a half years to work alongside you "to get this school up and running." I went back to Auckland University for my Masters and PhD. As part of my PhD, I went to the Pacific Islands to evaluate their language and create an orthography of their language, because at that time, they had no written language. I lived at Carol Atoll for nine months. I was there for a while. There was no bread, no potatoes, and no food like at home, but we had fish and coconuts. Not long after, I graduated. I applied for a scholarship, the BP Postgraduate Scholarship, to help me complete my work. I got to the interview, entered the room and sat down. There were two Pakeha sitting in the corner of the room talking and looking for the BP Postgrad form. One of them called out to me... I didn't know what he was on about! I thought to myself, "What the hell is that?" I told them I wasn't a chemist. "Then what do you do?" "I'm a linguist." "OK," they said before turning their backs on me. That's when I knew I was only wasting my time - this scholarship was for chemists. Then the chairman said, "Hello, Mr Sharples, how can you help BP?" "I didn't know this was for chemists. "Now I see I am wasting my time." "Hang on, hang on, come back!" They asked again, "Why do you want this scholarship?" I told them, "Because I want the title 'Dr', "so that when I speak on behalf of Maoridom as 'Dr Sharples', "you won't be able to ignore me, "because you will recognise this title of yours "and understand that I know what I'm talking about." I initially thought that I would be kicked out, but they congratulated me and approved it because of my desire to work on behalf of Maoridom. 'When one home fails, another still stands.' Although work can be difficult at times, my family always keeps me grounded. They were also my backbone at a time when I went down a path I never thought I would. When I was younger, I was approached by a lot of political parties to join them - National, Labour, Greens. Values was another one back then, and the Act Party. But I didn't want to work in Parliament. I wanted to work on marae, at kohanga, all those things. The turning point, however, was the Seabed and Foreshore Act that prevented Maori going to court for their seabed rights. That's when I got riled up. At first, I didn't even know what the hell I was doing. I had to go to a seminar to learn how to be a politician. It was funny. These days, Parliament is a difficult place to be at. Every day it's endless debating. All of the politicians are great. They go there with a goal of making Aotearoa a better place, whether it's for Pakeha, Maori or whoever. All have good intentions. But the setup in Parliament, when one side fights against the other, it's unhealthy. So even though at times we disagree with each other, we're still like family. Shane Jones and I argue all the time, but later on we acknowledge each other and have a cup of tea together. For three years I was in Parliament fighting and arguing against the government from the outside. That was it. Nothing came of it. But in our second term, for three years, we worked alongside the government. That's when we realised that if we were in government, we could bring about results for our people and funds to set up companies. It would be easy enough for me to step aside from politics and come back here to write in this marae environment. That's what I would really like. But because there's a lot of things we've put in place for the benefit of Maoridom, I want to stay and see those through. I truly believe in my party and their decision to keep me on as leader to take us into the next elections. If I didn't, I would have stepped aside. I don't want to be in politics if no one believes in me. At this point, we want to build on our Members in Parliament. It started with four. Then last election it was five, and now we only have three. Tariana will shortly step aside. That only leaves the two of us, so what shall we do? When Te Ururoa's time has come to lead the party, I will step aside. Tariana and I work together all the time. Even when she gets angry with me, that's fine. We still talk to each other about our families. All of us politicians are friends, but it's the nature of Parliament. There are times to fight, and there are times to work together. I am Pita Sharples, the man with an open heart! Next week... I'm Takaputai Mete Walker. I'm affiliated to Ngati Rakaipaaka a sub-tribe of Ngati Kahungunu. Waka Huia, TV ONE. Visit our website for more Waka Huia documentaries.