Reverend Hēmi Pōtatau (1920-1922)

1904-1994

Great Scots is a Distinguished Alumni Award that recognises the achievements of past students of Scots College. This award is presented to Hēmi Pōtatau in recognition of his outstanding cultural and religious achievements and all-round character.

Hēmi Pōtatau (Ngāti Kahungunu and Ngāti Rākaipaaka) was the first student of Māori descent to attend Scots College. It was the start of many firsts for Hēmi, who was a trailblazer for te ao Māori and te reo Māori throughout his life. Although only at Scots for a short time, he made his mark, fully embracing the sport and cultural activities on offer; he was in the 1st XV, played the trombone in the brass band, and wrote the school haka, which he performed with vigour. He continued to be involved with the College through the then Old Boys Association and always supported its events and jubilees.

Hēmi was ninth out of 12 siblings and grew up in Nuhaka, Hawkes Bay. At 14, he started to chop wood for the Māori Presbyterian Mission, and Missionary Sister Edith subsequently fostered him. It was to honour her that he converted from the Anglican to Presbyterian faith. The Mission funded Hēmi’s attendance at St Stephen’s College in Auckland before sending him to Scots College from 1920-1922.

In 1925, Hēmi was the first Māori enrolled at Knox Theological College, and the following year, he was among the first Māori to attend Otago University. In 1933, he was the first Māori graduate of Knox and was ordained a Presbyterian Minister.

During the war, Hēmi served with the Composite Signal Depot and the 28th Māori Battalion in the Middle East, where he was trained in intelligence work and learned the local Arabic dialect and French.

At the end of the war, Hēmi married Ira Rangiatu (Ngāti Tuwharetoa), they went on to whangai two tamariki: Kitty Ohlson and Maungarongo Pōtatau.

Hēmi spent his Ministry serving various parishes throughout Aotearoa and was recognised as a kaumatua when he was appointed as the first moderator of what is now Te Aka Pūaho.

A lifelong learner, he continued education into his later life, completing his deferred BA when he was 70. As a mature student at Victoria University, Hēmi was a champion of te reo Māori, he helped establish Māori language week in the 1970s, and while patron of "Te Reo Māori Society," he petitioned for a Māori television production unit (1974).

In his later years, Hēmi, wrote his autobiography He Hokinga Mahara as his thesis for his doctorate. It was the first autobiography to be published in te reo Māori and was a finalist in the first Pegasus Prize for Māori Literature 1984.

In 2004, the Junior School’s Pōtatau House was named after him.

Hēmi Pōtatau, church leader, academic, and Māori champion, is a truly inspirational character who is an excellent example to others. It is therefore my great pleasure to make this Award posthumously to Hēmi and formally induct him as a Great Scot.

Virtutem Paret Doctrina

 

He taonga tino motuhake te tohu ‘Great Scot’ kia āhukahuka ai ngā ākonga o mua mō a rātou mahi rangatira kua tutuki i a rātou. Inawhai anō ka riro i a Hēmi Pōtatau te taonga nei hei whakamana i āna mahi whakaharahara mō tōna ahurea, mō tōna whakapono hoki.

He uri nō Ngāti Kahungunu, nō Ngāti Rakaipāka, nō Tūhoe me Te Rarawa a Hēmi Pōtatau. Ko ia te ākonga Māori tuatahi i whakauru ki Kōtarani Kāreti. Heoi,he timatanga tēnei mō te amorangi nei mō āna tini whiwhinga mō te ao Māori. Heoi anō, ahakoa te poto o tāna noho ki te kura ka maumahara tonu te kāreti ki a ia mohoa noa nei.

Nā, i roto a ia i te kapa 1st XV, i te reo pēne e whakatangi ana i te pūkumekume me te mea hoki nāna te haka ā te kareti nei i tito, i rāngona i tōna ihi, tōna wehi i a ia e hakahaka ana.

Ko te tamaiti tuaiwa o te tekau mā rua a Hemi, i tupu ake ia i Nūhaka ki Te Matau a Māui. E te tekau mā wha tau tōna pakeke i tīmata ia ki te poro rakau mō te Hāhi Perehipitiriana me te mihingare a hēhita Edith, hei whakahonore i a ia i panoni a Hēmi i tōna whakapono mai i te Mihingare ki te Perehipitiriana. Waihoki, nā te haahi Perehipitiriana a Hēmi i tautoko ki Kōtarani Kāreti i ngā tau 1920-1922.

Nō te tau 1925 i whakauru a Hēmi ki te kareti o Knox Theological, arā, hei kanohi Māori tuatahi. Ka mutu, ko te tau whai muri atu ko ia tētahi Māori mataati ki te Whare Wānanga o Ōtākou. Kātahi ka whakawahingia ia i te tau 1933 hei minita mō te hāhi Perehipitiriana.

I te pakanga o ao i whakarato a ia mō te Composite Signal Depot. Kātahi mō te ope taua 28 o Te Hokowhitu a Tū ki Tāwāhi, ki Iraka, ki Iharaira hei whai mōhiotanga, ka ako hoki i ngā reo Ārapi me te reo o Wīwī.

I te mutunga o te pakanga ka mārena a Hēmi i a Ira Rangiatu nō Ngāti Tūwharetoa. I whāngai rāua i a Kitty Ohlson rāua ko Maungarongo Pōtatau.

Tāria te wā kua whakapito ngoi a Hemi ki te whakarato i tōna hāhi puta noa i te motu. I tohua ia te kaumatuatanga mō āna mahi hei kaitakawaenga mo Te Aka Pūaho.

He mea mutunga kore te whai matauranga mā Hēmi ahakoa e 70 ōna tau ka riro i a ia tana tohu paetahi mai i te Whare Wānanga o Wikitoria me te mea hoki he mātanga reo ia. Ko ia tētahi i āwina ki te whakapūmau i te wiki o Te Reo Māori i ngā tau 1970 me te taunaki i te roopu o Te Reo Māori Society, kua petihana mo te Whakaata Maori i te tau 1974 anō hoki.

I tōna kaumātuatanga i tuhia tōna ake haukiri e Hēmi, arā, ‘He Hokinga Maumahara’ mō tōna tohu kairangi, ā, koia te haukiri tuatahi i whakaputaina i te reo Māori. Ka mutu, i eke ki ngā whiringa toa o te kaupapa ‘Pegasus Prize for Maori Literature 1984’.

Ko Hēmi Pōtatau, he amorangi, he kairangi, he mātanga, he tangata ngākau māhaki, he tangata manawanui, he pia, he tauira, he rangatira aweawe mō ngā uri whakatipu. Nō Scots te whiwhi kia tuku atu te taonga whakaharahara nei ki tō tātou raukura kauanuanu. Nōku te hōnore nui ka whakawhiwhia matetia rā ia, a Hēmi Pōtatau ki te kāhui o ngā Great Scots.

Nō reira, tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou katoa

 

Sources:

Hēmi Pōtatau Biography, written by Angela Ballara and Tame H. Takao, was first published in the Dictionary of New Zealand Biography in 2000. It was translated into te reo Māori by the Dictionary of New Zealand Biography team.

The First Seven Thousand. A jubilee history of Scots College 1916-1990 written by James Brodie