May 15, 2019
Practical man Hekenukumai Busby laid to rest
A man who built bridges not just spanning rivers and streams in Taitokerau but connecting tribes and communities in Aotearoa and across the Pacific will be buried today at Pukepoto.
Sir Hekenukumai Busby died on Saturday aged 86.
MP Shane Jones says he had a rich and practical life that has inspired many leaders in the north.
Through his support for language and culture he gave practical expression to the renaissance of Māori identity renaissance and revived knowledge of ocean voyaging traditions that has been a cobweb of words on the papers of the Polynesian Society.
"I think a lot of the time Hector always seemed to me quite bemused by the huge attention his efforts had attracted but look, he's from a tribe when the leading men and women of the marae and of the tribes were incredibly practical people, largely uneducated in a western sense but incredibly competent and incredibly driven to achieve things of practical significance," Mr Jones says.
The funeral service for Sir Hekenukumai Busby will be held this morning at Te Uri o Hina Marae near Kaitaia.
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