Rongowhakaata (Rongo) Pere Halbert

Rongowhakaata (Rongo) Halbert was born in Waerenga-a-Hika, Gisborne, the youngest and only surviving child of Hetekia Te Kani Pere and Riripeti Rangikohera Ranginui and grandson of politician Wi Pere. He was educated at Gisborne Central School, Gisborne High School and Nelson College. In 1915 he became a licensed interpreter and in the same year married Patehepa Tamatea. The couple went on to have seven children. During his working career, Rongo worked for the Tairawhiti Native Land Court, was a dairy farmer at Pukepapa, and from 1925-1928 was employed by McCulloch Butler and Spence Chartered Accountants. He was a member of the Home Guard during the Second World War.

Rongo Halbert devoted much of his life to researching the history and whakapapa of the Bay of Plenty and East Coast tribes and regions. His written work was published in the Whakatane Historical Society’s Review and he also wrote a monograph on genealogies for the Society. His major work, published after his death, is Horouta: The History of the Horouta Canoe, Gisborne and East Coast. His daughter Nona Haronga writes: “For Rongo, what started with research into the history and genealogy of the family lands, found him devoting more and more time collecting, collating and writing history and genealogy involving the early Māori pioneers of the Gisborne/East Coast region. Although his desire was to see his book about the waka ‘Horouta’ completed in his lifetime, it was not to be.” Horouta: The History of the Horouta Canoe, Gisborne and East Coast was published in 1999.

Alongside his research and writing, Rongo served on various Māori Land Incorporations and had memberships on the Māori Purposes Fund Board, the Board of Māori Ethnological Research, and the Gisborne Art Gallery and Museum Board of which he chaired the Māori Museum Committee. He was an honorary Secretary of the Tairawhiti Māori Association, was a member of the Waerenga-a-Hika Trust Board and was secretary of Tairawhiti Native Interpreters’ Association. He was part of the team that worked on the sixth edition of the Williams Māori dictionary. He was a trustee and chair of the Wi Pere Trust Estate and a Māori adviser to the Gisborne Borough Council, New Zealand Geographical Board and Department of Education (Gisborne). He was a keen member of the Tairawhiti Historical Association and the Whakatane and District Historical Society. Rongo was also an active sportsman and was involved with golf, tennis, hockey and bowls. He died in Auckland on 11 April 1973. Nona Haronga writes: “Rongo always signed himself R. W. Halbert but called himself Rongowhakaata Halbert”.

Biographical sources

• Correspondence from Alan Haronga and Jerry Haronga, 31 August 2005.
• Correspondence from Nona Haronga, 1 August 1998. Phone conversation with Alan and Nona Haronga, 17 July 1998.
• Gordon, Peter. "Halbert, Rongowhakaata Pere 1894 – 1973." Dictionary of New Zealand Biography, updated 7 July 2005.
• URL: http://www.dnzb.govy.nz/
• “Biography of Rongowhakaata Halbert.” Horouta: The History of the Horouta Canoe, Gisborne and East Coast. Prepared for publication by Te Nonoikura Haronga, Peter Gordon and the Rongo Halbert whanau. Auckland, N.Z.: Reed, 1999. 10-11.