"Grave" prophecy in Kaikohe church-yard

On 8 February this year, a special church service will be held in Kaikohe to commemorate the centenary of the death of the MP Hone Heke Ngapua (1869 – 1909).

In preparation for this event – that will be held at Aperehama Church – Ngapua's descendent and Chairman of the Hone Heke Foundation, David Rankin, started to work on cleaning Ngapua's marble tomb this week.

As he was removing a century of grime, he discovered a carving engraved at the base of the monument. It reads "Although I am dead, my voice will be heard again".

Mr. Rankin says this was typical of the sort of prophecies made at this time:

"When someone great died – especially someone with a particular vision for our people, like Ngapua – then a prophesy would be made. For us, this discovery – on the eve of an important day remembering the life of our ancestor and leader – is a tohu, a sign that we must look again at what is important to us as a people, and work towards that".

The Centenary commemorations start at 11:30am on Sunday 8 February, and will be attended by dignitaries, church leaders, descendents of the Ngapua whanau, and Ngapua's biographer, Professor Paul Moon.

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