Ehau Kepa Hamuera Anaha 1938 1970 King Country Nz

edmondsallan - Hello - Best remembered for his power of oratory, for at least half a century Kepa was the person who welcomed royalty or famous personages to Te Arawa territory on public occasions, either on his own behalf or as an interpreter for rangatira who spoke no English. He claimed to have wakened the duke of Cornwall and York at Rotorua’s Grand Hotel in 1901 by playing reveille at sunrise. Kepa welcomed Field Marshall Viscount Montgomery to Rotorua during his tour of New Zealand after the Second World War and in 1954 the young Queen Elizabeth II. His coronation address to her had been broadcast nationally in 1953.

His English in oratory was stately and ornamented. He had memorised verses of Shakespeare and other poets, and would translate them into Maori to include in his orations. He surprised Europeans on occasion by giving a French translation of the Maori rather than an English one.

Despite the amputation of both legs in later life as a result of his war injuries, he remained a figure of authority at Maori hui, speaking in a strong, rich voice from his wheelchair. On one famous occasion during a dispute between Tuhoe and Te Arawa over the naming of the dining-hall Te Aroha-o-Te Arawa at Mataatua marae in Rotorua, he drove his wheelchair between the two factions and berated them for their quarrel.

Many of his speeches, in Maori and in English, were learnt by heart by Maori who admired his oratory. One such oration, first given at the funeral of a returned soldier about 1937, is still quoted today. It includes the words: ‘On the pillow that slips not and the bed that moves not you sleep the sleep pre-ordained, predestined, the inevitable destiny of mortal man…Hawaiki-nui, Hawaiki-roa, Hawaiki-pamamao farewell you as you wend your way to Te Hono-i-wairua, the meeting place of departed souls’.

Kepa Ehau died at his home in Ohinemutu on 10 February 1970 at the age of 84. His tangihanga over three days was attended by representatives of all the major tribes of Aotearoa who paid tribute to one of the greatest Maori orators of modern times. He was buried alongside his wife and other members of his family in Kauae cemetery on the lower slopes of Mt Ngongotaha. Till we met again - Regards -edmondsallan