Rā Maumahara: Q&A Tom Roa
Interviews
Rā Maumahara: Q&A Tom Roa
This is the first of several posts at Scoop Review of Books to help mark Aotearoa New Zealand’s first official Rā Maumahara (28 October) to remember the New Zealand Land Wars. In the second, Vaughan Rapatahana reviews Sleeps Standing/Moetū, by Witi Ihimaera with Hēmi Kelly, a novel about the battle at Ōrākau, and, finally, he also reviews Vincent O’Malley’s Great War for New Zealand.
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In May of this year, a talk and panel discussion with author Vincent O’Malley about his book The Great War for New Zealand: Waikato 1800 – 2000 was held in Te Awamutu, the Waikato town that sits amid several battle sites of the New Zealand Wars. One of the panelists, Tom Roa (Ngāti Apakura) spoke with Alison McCulloch in te Reo Māori and English after the event about O’Malley’s book:
Q. He aha ngā kōrero i puta mai ai ngā iwi o Waikato, (o Ngāti Maniapoto) mō te pukapuka nei?
A. Mīharo. Kei te nui te mihi ki a Vincent te take nā te arotau o ana rangahau i puta mai ai te pono, te tika o ngā kōrero a ngā tūpuna, ngā kōrero i tuku iho ki a mātou, engari kāore i te kōrerotia, kāore i te wānangatia e te ao Pākehā. Nā reira kei te nui te mihi ki tēnei Pākehā e whai nei i te pono i te tika o ngā kōrero i tuku iho.
From left, historian and author Vincent O’Malley; Tom Roa (Ngāti Apakura); local historian Alan Hall and Waipa District Councillor Susan O’Regan, taking part in a panel discussion in Te Awamutu in May this year about O’Malley’s book, The Great War for New Zealand: Waikato 1800 – 2000. (Photo: Alison McCulloch)
