Te Miringa Milton Hohaia

Milton Hohaia was born in Opunake. He worked as a timber worker, professional musician and actor. From 1972-76 he had formal training in oral history, songs and customs, and from 1987-1989 he was trained in weaponry and associated ceremonies. He was a researcher of Taranaki tribal histories. He placed the first successful claim before the Waitangi Tribunal from the Taranaki Iwi concerning Motunui. He was co-ordinator of the claim for Taranaki Iwi and Parihaka from 1989-1997 and remained directly involved in the progression processes. When the Co-operates and Workers’ Trust held a national hui at Parihaka in 1986, the local Parihaka people put together a publication called Ngarongo Kōrero to which he contributed an article. He gave evidence at the Waitangi Tribunal in 1993; later the Tribunal commissioned him and Marlene Benson to do a report. He wrote waiata and worked on a translation and interpretation of Taranaki family manuscripts. He also worked on compiling texts and maps for historical overviews of the Parihaka movement, its leaders and people. He examined the methodology used to alienate the entire Taranaki land mass and wrote stories of Taranaki and its people and land. He was focussed on writing essays on a Māori vision of empowerment in the new millennium; these essays focussed on the social and political agenda of Māori. One was provisionally entitled "Economic Independence: The Model for Integrity as Māori". He also conducted and wrote interviews, texts for television documentaries, plays, dramas, dances and films, including sound tracks for film and live performance. He wrote traditional songs, chants (karanga), speeches, and contemporary songs for dramatisation such as for the Taiao Dance Theatre Company in 1994. He was key mover in the establishment of the Parihaka Peace Festival in 2005 and curated the exhibition "Parihaka: The Art of Passicve Resistance".

Biographical sources

• Phone conversation and correspondence with Hohaia, 4 and 10 July 1998.
• "Parihaka Peace Festival Director Dies." http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/4032634/Parihaka-Peace-Festival-director-dies/ 20 Aug. 2010.