Wiremu "Bill" Ohia, 1922-1992

Bill Ohia talking to Ernest Bush, former Society Journal editor, at Papamoa Hills
35mm film negative. Photograph taken for Bay of Plenty PhotoNews, No 69, 30 May 1970, p.57
Image courtesy of Pae Koroki, Ref. pn-7646

Bill was a man who was very aware of the history of his ancestors in Tauranga Moana and consequently extremely socially active all his 70 years in Waitao. He was one of the older sons of the twelve children of Hone Ohia, who farmed in close proximity to three marae belonging to Ngati Pukenga iwi.

Bill was born in the Te Puke Maternity Annexe, as was his only child Rahera. He attended the Pāpāmoa Native School (which later became Pāpāmoa Māori School and is now Te Kura Kaupapa Māori ō Otepou). When the school was Pāpāmoa Māori School, Bill’s daughter Rahera was a pupil there and his wife Hinemanu (a McLean of Tainui Descent from the Waikato) a teacher there. While Rahera was attending Tauranga Girls’ College, Bill served on the Tauranga Girls College Board of Governors.

Bill was a keen scuba diver who, if he wasn’t tied up with other things, went diving every weekend for kaimoana and often took his cousins, nephews and nieces along to teach them about the sea. Bill, by this time, was also farming in Waitao and he helped set up and run the Rangataua Young Farmers Club. Bill was the first Māori town supply farmer in the area.

Tauranga Moana Trust Board's Original Fund-raising Committee, 1953. (Left to Right) T. Te Kani, F.N. Pinfold, I. Tangitu, W. Ohia, R.G. Faulkner (inset) Tom Peek
Image courtesy of the Tauranga Moana Trust Board

The Tauranga Moana Māori Trust Board was formed after the iwi and hapū of Tauranga sought to make it known what had transpired between their ancestors and the Crown to enable colonial settlement of the area, and the establishment of Tauranga. It was the culmination of the work of a number of people over many years, including Bill, Turi Te Kani, Bob Falconer (then Director of the Department of Māori Affairs), Fred Pinfold and Ike Tangitu. The Trust Board was created to receive compensation from the Crown for lands that had been taken through confiscation. Bill was the inaugural chairman of this trust board, a position he retained for many years.

He was also the chair of the Waikato Maniapoto District Maori Council and a member of many other Maori organisations in the Western Bay of Plenty. One of these was the Tauranga Maori Cultural and Promotional Committee an initiative begun with Archie Clark, the city’s Public Relations Officer at the time. Apart from Bill and Hinemanu, that committee included Turi Te Kani, Charlie Kuka, Tim Smith, Sonny and Moira Rolleston and others.  The aim of the committee was to give voice to Māori cultural and civic aspirations. This committee started the annual National Māori Cultural Championships which many years later became Te Matatini.

Bill was a member of the Trotting Club (he owned race horses), the Aero Club (he was a pilot as was his brother Monty and Uncle, Barney Kahotea) and the Rotary and Lions Clubs (he was community-minded). So he was of many diverse networks. Through their contacts, he and his wife were part of a group who trialed a Māori Radio station based at the 17th Ave Historic Village which at the time was under the directorship of Noel Nicholls. Later, Bill became the inaugural Chair of Aotearoa Māori Radio, when the government of the day agreed to set aside part of the AM frequency for Maori Radio.

Tauranga Moana Trust Board's Fund-raising Committee, 1955. (Back Row) J. Foster, P. Rewiti, W. Ohia. (Front Row) F.N. Pinfold, I. Tangitu, C.H.D. Porter
Image courtesy of the Tauranga Moana Trust Board

According to Rahera her Dad, Noel Nicholls, "Uncle Turi, Uncle Charlie and others" (all of whom were determined that everyone should know the full history of the area) were part of a group who negotiated to get permission to clear Mauao of its dense scrub cover so that evidence of early Maori occupation was visible. She was roped in with others to trek to the summit most weekends to clear the scrub. The road to the summit was then created by Jack and Roger Prince with their heavy machinery, and when it was all done she and her father and Alan Clarke (a teacher from Mount Maunganui College) identified, measured and recorded all the pā sites there. This was all designed to make the Māori history of the area visible for all and to stimulate people’s curiosity so that they might want to know more.

Bill Ohia talking to the Tauranga Historical Society on the Papamoa Hills
35mm film negative. Photograph taken for Bay of Plenty PhotoNews, No 69, 30 May 1970, p.57
Collection of Tauranga City Library, Nga Wahi Rangahu. Image courtesy of Pae Koroki, Ref. pn-7638

In the 1980s, Bill moved from farming to orcharding and he grew kiwifruit, avocados, boysenberries and apples. The exposure to the kiwifruit industry led him and Turi Te Kani (also an orchardist, but at Matapihi) to champion Māori ownership of their own packhouse, so they began Te Awanui Hukapak, a symbol of their independence and the commercial intent and capability of Māori communities.

Bill Ohia receives his Queen's Service Order from the Governor General, Sir Paul Reeves, in 1988
Image courtesy of Rahera Ohia

Bill played a number of roles in the evolution of Tauranga and was awarded the QSO in 1988.

Turi died under tragic circumstances in around 1990, and sadly his long time and close friend Bill died in equally tragic circumstances in 1992. They were each mourned by thousands at Matapihi and Waitao respectively.