PARATENE TE MANU Who is he????

 Paratene Te Manu was one of the great project donors who donated this beautiful land for our wonderful school.  The other was Henare Te Moananui

His iwi was Ngati Wai His hapu was Ngati Taka

 He was an ancient warrior and battled with Hongi Heke in 1822 for Ngapuhi  When the battles ended in 1830 he went to live in Whangaruru which is by Helena Bay and Oakura

 Paratene Te Manu was invited to join a group of people to go to England as a Maori minister.  He learnt a lot about the English and their way of life.  He went on a ship called Ira Tekerea (Ida Zeigler) and arrived in May 1862

He had a meet and greet with the Queen who said to the people I quote “Tena koutou iwi Maori o Nui Tireni” (salutations to you Maori people of New Zealand).

Paratene Te Manu met the Duke of Wellington in London and they became friends When he returned to NZ he changed his whanau name to Wellington to remember his friend the Duke of Wellington

In 1895 he moved to Ngunguru

 He crossed through an old world to a new world and changed his beliefs and decided Maoris should adapt to this new world as he did  He showed great leadership in helping this happen

 Then he had a dream for his children and his childrens children.  He wanted them to learn the English as well as the Maori way.

In 1869 Te Manu on behalf of the other members of Te Waiariki and Ngatiwai (sub tribes of Ngapuhi) gave the property on which our school stands for the education of both Maori and Pakeha children.

 Paratene Te Manu would sit in and watch the children of Ngunguru school and observe what they were learning.  If you were at our Time Warp concert you might remember Manaakitia in a small snippet of him sitting in the Room 3 class with Mr Stevens teaching.

PPPParatene te manu was a chief with his moko as a symbol of his rank,he wore a woollen blanket worn as a cloak, his greatest delight was to finger and sort the beads on the counting frame and trace with his finger,over words on the blackboard.

 Thanks to his gift, hundreds of New Zealanders and children from all over the world have had a education at Ngunguru school.

Paratene Te Manu died in Ngunguru in That’s 114 years ago, 26 years after the school began. He was over 100 years old