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Alwyn Owen visits the settlement of Hatepe on the eastern shore of Lake Taupo and talks to Mrs Haromi Koopu about the history of the settlement and her father Iapeta Robert Morehu's fight for its survival.
Haromi talks about the burial places of her parents at the family homestead, rather than the traditional urupa. She recalls her childhood at Hatepe and cycling a long way to Tauranga-Taupo to go to school on frosty mornings.
They lived in a small unlined whare, the only home at Hatepe at that time, and her father worked on the roads. He was raised by his grandparents and was very knowledgeable about the history of the area, the natural world and Māori pātere. Her mother wanted to move back to 'civilisation' but her father had a vision of the area becoming a tourist destination.
Haromi recalls her job as a child was to charge cars for 2/-6 for using the private road to the lake. Next came tent sites and then leasing sections of land for baches to be built in the 1940s.
She says as the settlement grew her father came under pressure from authorities who didn't believe as a Māori that he could manage his own development. In 1958 Hatepe became incorporated and in 1963 a special bill was put through Parliament to get Taupo County to allow the subdivision to exist as it was. She says M.P.'s Mr Ratana, Mr Tirakatene and Peter Fraser helped get this passed.
They visit the former pā site and Haromi explains how the original Māori settlement was burnt down by Te Kooti, and its name changed to Hatepe. They also visit the marae and she explains her father's belief that it should be welcoming to anyone.
Haromi talks about traditional arranged marriages and her father's passing. Doug Dalton, a Hatepe resident, recalls Iapeta's tangihanga and burial at the family home. He says it was one of the most impressive days of his life.