PERI REWETI KOHU (1951-2022)

Ngāi Tamarāwaho kaumātua Peri Reweti Kohu passed on 2 August 2022 at the age of 70. At Peri's tangi on 5 August 2022, there were several references to his involvement in the Tauranga Town Hall Occupation of 1987 (Lot 45). As Buddy Mikaere recalled, Peri shared with him part of his childhood, when he and his family had to move and squat on land at Ōtūmoetai where they had a three-sided house. That wasn’t because of any fancy architectural design, but simply because the fourth side was a hedge - a legacy of the land confiscations that took place in Tauranga Moana. Without remembering these experiences the depth of the injustices and their echo down the generations cannot be fully understood But it was those experiences too, that made Peri into the kind and generous man he was – a man also remembered for his huge musical talent and his straightforward way of speaking when he had a point to make or a correction to the historical record Peri was so fully involved in whatever was happening, whether photographing or videoing, or in the case of the Te Ranga pou installation in 2014, on the end of a shovel showing the younger generation how it’s done properly… Portion of an obituary by Debbie McCauley which can be accessed via: https://debbiemccauleyauthor.wordpress.com/2022/08/07/the-last-strum