Wiremu Ohia

Ngāti Pukenga, Te Arawa, Ngāti Pikiao

1922 - 1992

Wiremu Ohia was born at Papamoa and was educated at Papamoa Native School and Tauranga College. After he finished school, he wanted to join the airforce but his grandfather wouldn’t let him go to war so he remained at home and worked on the family dairy farm. In 1942 he married Hinemanu and together they worked on their dairy farm at Welcome Bay. Ohia was chair of the Whetu o Terangi marae committee and chair of the Tauranga Moana District Māori Council. He was Tauranga representative on the Waikato District Council and became chair of the Tauranga Moana Trust Board. Ohia worked for Māori Affairs, continued working as a dairy farmer and eventually moved into orcharding.

Biographical sources

  • Phone call with Hinemanu Ohia 19 Feb, 7 May, 1998.
  • Email correspondence from Rahera Ohia, 7 July 2004.

    Non-fiction

  • "Rangataua Farmers’ Club." Te Ao Hou 6 (1953): 29-30, 55-56.
  • Ohia describes the first all-Māori Young Farmers’ Club in New Zealand, Rangataua Farmers’ Club, which was formed in October 1949 in the region east of Tauranga. He outlines the aims of the club, its achievements and provides a copy of the club programme
  • "Spear Fishing." Te Ao Hou 17 (1956): 37+.
  • In this introduction to spear fishing Ohia declares that this ‘sport of the century’ is drawing people from all walks of life. He discusses the equipment needed for spear fishing and writes of the variety of fish that can be found along the coastline. In Tauranga local Māori have established the Tangaroa Underwater Club and Ohia gives various anecdotal accounts of their fishing excursions.
  • "Kōrero Tupua (Fable of Mauao)." Journal of the Tauranga Historical Society 67 (Dec. 1982): 9-12.
  • Co-authored with T. Te Kani for the Tauranga Moana District Māori Council.

    • Other

  • "Māori Reverence For "The Mount"." Bay of Plenty Times. No details. Rpt. in Journal of the Tauranga Historical Society 18 (Dec. 1963): 28-30.
  • This letter, written by Ohia on behalf of the Tauranga Māori Tribal Executive of which he was secretary, states the Executive’s objections to the proposed cableway to the top of Mt Maunganui because of its tapu nature to the local iwi.