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People from a wider range of occupations, circumstances and races have accompanied Erima Henare on his final journey from Motatau Marae to Takapuna urupa, where the Ngapuhi leader was laid to rest this afternoon.
The Maori language commissioner and father of Tamaki Makaurau MP Peeni Henare died on Thursday at the age of 62.
Pita Tipene from Ngati Hine says the tangi has been eye-opening for his hapu and iwi.
"Because of his humility, he quite often didn’t tell us the many things he was involved in. There are some more public things like te reo and other big kaupapa he was involved in but there are a lot of small things where he worked with whanau, he worked with young people, and he worked with a whole host of people. That’s why the royalty of the islands are here as well as ministers of the crown, but all of the stories simply reflect a very humble man who was raised in very humble beginnings but was very skilled and walked easily in a host of worlds," he says.
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