Remembering Eruera Te Whiti Nia

“Aere ra e tama ō Taputapuatea na te ara tīroa, i Avaiki tātou āravei ‘akaou ei”.

Farewell son of Taputapuatea, we shall meet again in Avaiaki/Hawaiki.

E tuku aroha atu ana a Ngā Taonga i te matenga o tētehi o ngā tohunga mahi kiriata kua hinga i tāwāhi, i te whenua o ana tūpuna i Rarotonga. Nō reira e koro, takoto mai i te takotoranga o rātou mā.

It is with sadness we acknowledge the passing of Eruera (Ted) Te Whiti Nia, artist and filmmaker who died in Rarotonga on 9 June 2016. Ted carried the name of his grandfather, Lieutenant Colonel Eruera Te Whiti Love – the first Māori to command the 28th Māori Battalion. He was raised in both New Zealand and Rarotonga, as his parents travelled between their two homelands. He went to Arts School at Ilam in Christchurch in the early 1970s, where he learned photography and filmmaking among other things. Ted was a part of Ngā Tama Toa and the tent Embassy at Parliament. His films are held at Ngā Taonga Sound & Vision and include Te Atiawa o Runga te Rangi (1986) and Nga Tai o Makiri (1987), filmed largely in Taranaki with interviews with many kuia and kaumātua on Te Atiawa tikanga and environmental issues.

Hero image: Ted during filming for Te Atiawa o Runga te Rangi (1986) in Taranaki. Photograph by Himiona Grace.