By Frank Neill
Wainuiomata had plenty to celebrate during 2024, including Trevor Mallard receiving a knighthood, a hugely successful Matariki, another successful Christmas in the Nui, and a long list of sports achievements. Continued on page 2.
Sir Trevor Mallard. Photo: Supplied.
Continued from page 1
January
WELLINGTON SUBURBAN NEWSPAPERS
REPORTER
Frank Neill
wainui@wsn.co.nz 027 490 3916
SALES
Les Whiteside les@wsn.co.nz 021 360 008
Phone (04) 587 1660 NATIONAL SALES
Sam Barnes
sam@wsn.co.nz 021 109 4406
Sir Trevor Mallard was made a Knight Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit in the 2024 New Years Honours. Sir Trevor was awarded his knighthood for services as a Member of Parliament and as Speaker of the House of Representatives.
Wainuiomata players Riana Le’afa-Paki, Billie Va’a and Fanua Rimoni were selected for Under 18 NZ M ori K tiro Rugby League team that competed in the Rugby League Pasifika Youth Cup, played in Pukekohe from 24 to 28 January.
February
A petition asking Hutt City Council (HCC) to take action on the problem of motorbikes riding on parks and paths near the Wainuiomata Masonic Village was presented to the Wainuiomata Community Board at its meeting on 14 February. Illegal and dangerous bike riding has continued to be a problem in the valley, and the Police are keen to hear from people who have collected information (such as photos) that can help them identify the bike riders.
March
Love Wainuiomata’ new coordinator Chastity Card officially started in the new role on Monday 18 March, succeeding Anaru Ryall, who left the parttime position for a full-time role.
April
Wainuiomata High School stu-
dent Ruby Lasini broke the New Zealand shot put record in her division. Ruby set the new record of 6 metres 5 centimetres at the North Island Secondary Schools Track and Field Championships on 6 and 7 April.
Wainuiomata Intermediate Year 7 student Vatau Sagaga won the supreme award for Best Film in the 2024 Pasifika Youth Short Film competition. The film, “A Different Awakening” which Vatau created with his cousin Fraser Fatialofa is about the controversial dawn raids policy of the 1970s.
The Wainuiomata Cricket Club’s star bowler Ryan Jackson won two 2024 Cricket Wellington awards. Ryan was named RobLawMax Senior Men’s Club Cricketer of the Year and the Ron Murray Cup for the most wickets during the 2023-24 season in the men’s top two divisions.
May
The Wainuiomata Lions Rugby League team are the 2024 Hutt Valley Sports Team of the Year.
June
Two Wainuiomata Baseball players – Connor Keall and Logan Woolley – were selected to represent New Zealand. Connor and Logan have been named in the Southern Cross Baseball Academy “Pac-Men” under 16 team to play in the Babe Ruth Baseball World Series in Branson, Missouri.
Wainuiomata Intermediate School (WIS) won three awards at the 2024 Showquest. They won the awards for Best Drama, Most Accomplished Lighting Award and the Best School Spirit Award. Wainuiomata’s second Matariki celebration, held from 27 to 29 June, was another big success. Ko P Ūanga r ua ko Matariki began with a Hautapu fire on Pito One Beach at 6am. After kai at Petone Beach Kindergarten the celebration continued in the Queen Street town centre. Ng Hau e Wh o Wainuiomata are the 2024 Aotearoa New Zealand M ori Kotiro Champions. The Ken Laban coached under 17 team defeated the Hokianga Storm 28-0 in the final. Hayden Opai won one gold medal and three silver medals at the World Hapkido Championships, held in Busan, South Korea, on 22 and 23 June. Continued on page 3.
Continued from page 2.
Wainuiomata-based band Adoneye soared to the top in New Zealand when they won the 2024 Battle of the Bands national competition. Dean Rossell, the band’s lead singer and guitarist, also won the award for best singer and the award for best song writer.
The Wainuiomata Marae launched a new project – to plant an urban forest next to the marae. Named Ngahere Korowai (signifying a beautiful cloak of forest), it will be planted on the swamp area between the marae and the hill.
Wainuiomata Intermediate School student
Luka Sue has been selected to represent the New Zealand region in Baseball. The 12-year-old has been named in the Southern Cross Baseball Academy’s “PAC-Men” 12U team.
Wainuiomata are the 2024 Hardham Cup champions after they defeated Paremata-Plimmerton 24-19 in the final at Jerry Collins Stadium on 27 July.
The Wainuiomata Lions are the 2024 Wellington Rugby League champions after beating St George Dragons 40-30. This gave the Lions the Appleton Shield for the second year in a row.
August
The Wainuiomata Volunteer Fire Brigade has a new Chief Fire Officer, Peter Thompson. He succeeds Ewen Heron, who has
served in the role for the past 11 years.
Ulalei Aute are the Premier 1 Champions for 2024 with an emphatic 53-40 victory over Upper Hutt Maidstone United on 24 August.
September
The Wainuiomata Volunteer Fire Brigade turned 80 on 4 September. Following a major fire in 1943 local residents decided to form their own fire brigade and this led to the official formation of the new brigade on 4 September 1944.
Hutt City Council’s decided to disestablish the Wainuiomata Community Board.
October
Wainuiomata Footballer Brooke Neary was named in the New Zealand team that will compete in the Under 17 Football World Cup, which kicks off on 16 October in the Dominican Republic.
Wainuiomata’s former Chief Fire Officer Ewen Heron has become the second fire fighter in the 80-year history of the brigade to serve 50 years as a volunteer firefighter.
November
Thousands of Wainuiomata people turned out to join the HĪkoi M Te Tiriti 2024 on 19 November. The huge Wainuiomata contingent left McEwan Park at 4am, walking from Petone to Wellington Railway Station where they met up with the main hĪkoi, and they all marched to Parliament.
December
Around 50 Hurricanes descended on Wainuiomata on 9 December to help with three community projects. One group painted fences at the Wainuiomata Marae, another helped with a series of activities at the Pataka Kai and the third group did their working bee at Barnardos.
A major one-day symposium will be hosted by Te Kura Matua o Wainuiomata at Wainuiomata High School on 10 March next year. The symposium will feature Professor Linda Tuhiwai Smith and Professor Graham Smith as the first two speakers, with scene setting by Huia Puketapu. They will feature in what will be a day of kōrero and reflection, with trail-blazing, world-renowned Māori thinkers and innovators, as they use indigenous wisdom to provide insights into where we have been and how we can strengthen where we are going in education, the public sector and in our communities.
Nō reira, kei te iti, kei te rahi, nau mai haere mai kia noho tahi ai tāua i raro i ngā mātanga o tēnei mea te mātauranga Māori. Tickets for the symposium are now on sale at https://events. humanitix.com/navigating-te-ao-hurihuri.
Darwin to Broome 11 days, departs 18 August 2025
Graceland, Nashville, Tupelo 9 days, departs 20 September 2025 Package includes:
5 days, departs 5
The Wainuiomata Volunteer Fire Brigade recently held a training exercise at Richard Prouse Park.
The scenario was smoke showing from the changing rooms, where people were trapped. One team was tasked with responding to the clubroom end of the park and using a portable pump draft water out of the Wainuiomata River.
Although classed as portable, this pump still requires four people to safely carry it, which was made more difficult due to having to negotiate a small track covered with prickle vegetation.
The water was pumped into the appliance and then through 200m of hose into a portable dam that was fashioned from ladders and a salvage sheet, being supervised by the Operational Support crew.
The water was then drafted into the deliveries used by the firefighters.
Members of the Operational Support unit were also patients inside the smoke logged building awaiting rescue.
These exercises are an important part of a brigade’s training and help both seasoned and newly joined firefighters to hone their skills.
By Frank Neill
With the holiday season approaching it is important that people take measures to ensure the safety of their homes, especially if they are going away on holiday, says the officer in charge of the Wainuiomata Police, Sergeant Patrick Tangipo.
That includes not just making sure your home is locked, but also taking steps to make the house appear as though it is occupied.
This can include measures like leaving a light or lights on and not drawing curtains.
Fitting security cameras and alarms can reduce the chances of a home being targeted by offenders.
“Security cameras can help deter criminals,” Sergeant Tangipo says.
Make sure valuable items are out of sight, in case a criminal comes onto your property to check it out.
Ensure you have recorded and saved the serial numbers of expensive electronic items in the house and you have photographed other valuables.
Check that sheds and garages are locked.
Consider joining a neighbourhood support group, as they can help by keeping an eye on your house while you are away.
It is always a good idea to make sure that you don’t leave valuables in cars, esepcially if you are away on holiday, and also to make sure that all vehicles are locked.
It is “very disappointing to learn that the Government will not be delivering in its promise of 500 more police officers in two years,” Hutt South MP Ginny Andersen says.
“I worked incredibly hard to get the Wainuiomata Police Station back open and I know this made a huge difference to community safety.”
The Minister of Police, Mark Mitchell, had promised that Police numbers would be increased by at least 500 by November 2025.
However, officials revealed on 5 December that the target of a 500 increase would not be met until at least mid 2026, Ms Andersen says.
“During the Police annual review, officials admitted that they were trying to meet the target of two years from 27 November 2023 (2025) – but they would only manage to have
Wainuiomata has a long and interesting history with thousands of stories. This is just one of them and it all began 81 years ago on 1 May 1943.
A Curtiss P-40E Kittyhawk was on a test flight. Inside this plane was Sergeant Thomas Victor Marchant.
He last checked in at 2:12 pm.
The Kittyhawk likely crashed minutes later when it was hit with a down draught and failed to go back up, crashing into a steep hill.
The Kittyhawk crashed below McKerrow Ridge at the end of Sunny Grove. Thomas sadly died instantly from the impact.
The Police and the Air Force looked for his remains and they found them two days after the crash.
Thomas now lies at the Aramoho Cemetery in Whanganui.
The Kittyhawk was deemed irreparable.
Over a couple years the scorch marks from where the plane hit was overgrown by plants and things like the guns, ammunition and small pieces of the metal were either washed
The Wainuiomata News requires deliverers in the following areas on a Wednesday each week:
AREA 1: Faulke Ave, Burden Ave, part of Wood St 270 papers
AREA 2: Hamstead, Enfield, part Wellington, Kendall 220 papers
AREA 3: Dover Rd, Westminster Rd, part of Wellington Rd 385 papers
away or stolen by people. However bigger pieces like the engine still stayed there. The engine lies at the end of the Sunny Grove river.
If you weren’t looking for it you would
miss it.
For the 80 years it’s been there it feels like it’s become part of nature. It’sshocking how out of place the engine is but it’s also perfect.
AREA 4: Naseby Gr, Bexley Gr, part of Wellington Rd - 285 papers
AREA 5: Meremere St, Manurewa Gr, Mataura Gr - 300 papers
AREA 6: Frederick St, Derwent St, Mackay St- 260 papers
AREA 7: Parenga St, Ngaturi Gr, parts of Wood St and Coast Rd - 235 papers
AREA 8: Wright St, Hyde St, part of Moohan St - 300 papers
A gang member has been arrested after shots were fired at a house on Wainuiomata’s Coast Road in the early hours of 14 December.
Nobody was injured in the attack.
“Police were called at 2.40am after a man known to the occupants arrived at the house and fired shots through a window,”
Detective Senior Sergeant Tim Leitch says.
“The man left the scene on a scooter but had his vehicle parked nearby and then travelled to Lower Hutt.
“The man – a 36-year-old gang
member – was located at a Lower Hutt house by Police a short time later and arrested for unlawful possession of a firearm.”
The man was remanded in custody to appear in the Lower Hutt District Court yesterday, 17 November.
Police would like to hear from anyone who has information which could assist the investigation, Senior Sergeant Leitch says.
“We are also seeking sightings of the man’s silver Mazda Axela hatchback in Wainuiomata and Lower Hutt.
“If you can help, please make contact via 105 and quote file number 241214/7892.”
Ulalei Wainuiomata Sport has added Kirikiti (Samoan version of cricket) to its offerings this summer as the sport looks to breathe life back into a game that was once thriving in Wellington in the 1990s and 2000s.
The impact of Ulalei’s women’s team has been immediate as it has qualified for the Grand Final in the brand new Kirikiti Premier League (KPL) this Friday at Fraser Park.
The team is led by Tauvale Whitman and Marina McCarthy and will play Porirua United in what will be the teams third encounter this summer.
The KPL is run by the Wellington Samoan Kirikiti Association and includes an 8-team men’s competition and five teams in the women’s group. It is played in a relatively new format where limited player numbers and balls bowled are used so games are completed much quicker than the traditional form of the game.
“This is kirikiti’s T20 equivalent which has its obvious advantages and can appeal more to
our youth,” Tauvale says.
“The Ulalei team includes a few motherdaughter combinations which is an important part of this competition.
“For the game to survive it needs to be passed down to the next generation. That was front of mind when we put our team together,”
Tauvale says.
A second competition Filimalae will see the longer form of the game played over three days from Boxing Day. Ulalei has a women’s and a men’s team entered in that competition.
“We wanted to support WSKA in bringing this special game back to what it was when we were growing up in Lower Hutt,” says Ulalei’s Vatau Sagaga.
“It’s fortunate we still have players in Wainuiomata who are passionate about the game and keen to grow the game with our youth which is crucial.”
Ulalei acknowledges the support from One Foundation and Nuku Ora in enabling it to field its teams this summer.
By Frank Neill
Wainuiomata men’s premier Cricket XI avenged their narrow first round loss when they defeated Johnsonville at Bryan Heath Park on 14 December.
The home team scored a comfortable victory in their division two Hazlett Trophy encounter.
After bowling Johnsonville out for 259, Wainuiomata passed their total after 42 overs and two balls, finishing with 262 for five wickets.
Two players scored half centuries and two more came very close.
Craig Foster was the match’s top scorer
with 72 runs, scored from just 62 deliveries. Callum Mackaness was also outstanding with the bat, finishing on 61 not out from only 54 balls.
Jackson Hemingway, who had earlier taken four Johnsonville wickets at a cost of 39 runs, came within one run of a half century when he was out for 49.
Ryan Jackson scored 48 runs after taking one Johnsonville wicket for 44 runs.
Brett Dransfield also had a great spell of bowling, taking three wickets for 21 runs and Gurpreet Singh took two wickets for 35 runs. Wainuiomata’s next match is against Petone Riverside at Bryan Heath Park on 21 December.
By Frank Neill
Joshua Searle was overjoyed when he learned he had won the Wellington Rebel Sport Trolley Dash. He filled his trolley at Rebel Sport Petone when he was one of five nationwide winners in a competition that attracted more than 25,000 entries. The 38-year-old has raised his niece and nephew since they were one and two, and thanks to the Trolley Dash can give them the Christmas they deserve. His 7-year-old nephew loves football and touch, while his 8-year-old niece is a budding netball and basketball star with a passion for fashion.
The Trolley Dash has filled their Christmas with sports gear, boots, and anything that fuels their active, sporty lifestyles.
“Christmas is about family, relaxing and celebrating together,” Joshua says.
ACROSS
1. Hopes (9)
6. Sudden idea (5,4)
11. Male singing voice (5)
12. Persian lynx (7)
13. Bizarre (5)
14. Slaughter (8)
17. The yaws(Med) (10)
18. Artist, Yoko ... (3)
20. Diplomacy (4)
22. Quandary (7)
24. Crown of flowers (6)
26. Water barrier (3)
28. Steeple part (5)
29. Omen (7)
32. Old Roman language (5)
33. Belgium town (3)
34. Sphere (3)
35. Meadow (3)
36. Deserts’ fertile area (5)
37. N. American deer (7)
38. Naming words (5)
39. Goad (3)
41. Aristocracy (6)
42. Infatuations(inf) (7)
44. Continent (4)
47. Donkey (3)
49. Womans riding style (10)
51. Precious stone (8)
55. Surpass (3,2)
56. Alfresco (4,3)
57. Respond (5)
58. Controls (9)
59. Los Angeles suburb (9)
DOWN
1. Endeavour (7)
2. Curves (5)
3. Plaid (6)
4. Academy award statuette (5)
5. Type (4)
6. Stiff linen fabric (7)
7. On fire (6)
8. Canadian Province (12)
9. Assumed name (5)
10. Affectionate utterances (11)
15. Drunkard (3)
16. Final part(music) (4)
19. Shooting star (6)
21. Vivid red (7)
23. Collision (6)
25. Byways (7)
26. Eating utensil (7,5)
27. Inundation (6)
28. Buffet (11)
30. ... Lanka (3)
31. Lady superior(monastery) (6)
40. Quickly(Abbr) (4)
43. Hair curlers (7)
44. Deciduous timber tree (3)
45. Turned away (7)
46. Skilful (6)
48. Athletic (6)
50. Fact (5)
52. By ear (5)
“My birthday’s on Boxing Day, so it’s a double celebration with family. “I’ve never won anything like this before, and it honestly means the world. “Being a solo dad is hard yakka, but I just want to give my kids a special Christmas after everything they’ve been through. Now, I’m going to focus on making memories with them instead of stressing about gifts.” Josh’s Rebel Trolley Dash was a huge success. He picked up $4,970 worth of goods in 90 seconds. On behalf of Hutt City Council, I wish you a
