Biography

Te Whiti O Rongomai

Te Whiti O Rongomai was a believer of peace, he did not believe in fighting. His actions changed the lives of hundreds of people. When the government took Maori land he encouraged people not to fight physically, but to fight back in other ways. He was born in 1830 in Ngamotu/New Plymouth, Taranaki, Aotearoa/New Zealand. He died in 1907 in November. His parent were Hone Kakahi and Rangi Kauwau.

Te Whiti was the leader of a small village called Parihaka. It was near Taranaki in the North Island of New Zealand. At the time the British government had created some laws that the Maori and the people of Parihaka thought were unfair. Instead of suggesting that the people of Parihaka fought physically with weapons he encouraged people to just undo all the unfair things that the British had done, they pulled out survey pegs that had been put around their houses, ploughed farms that the British owned and pulled down fences that had been put across their own land.

One day British soldiers came and gave the order that the people had an hour to leave, no one moved so the British arrested the Maori leaders (Te Whiti O Rongomai and Tohu Kakahi). Both of the leaders refused to fight and went peacefully to prison.Te Whiti and Tohu waited in prison for a trial for two years before they were sentenced to death. This was on the fifth of November 1907.

I think that if Te Whiti hadn’t influenced the people of Parihaka they would have fought back when the British attacked and they would have been outnumbered greatly. They didn’t have many weapons either so there would have been many deaths. The British would have taken over the town of Parihaka. Te Whiti played a very important role. I am glad that I chose Te Whiti to do this biography on because the things that he did taught me a lot.

Te Whiti’s beliefs changed the life of hundreds of people. He will always be remembered for his bravery. He  proved that you didn’t have to fight with weapons to be remembered as brave. I believe that Te Whiti was an amazing person who changed the lives of people everywhere.

Timeline of important events in his life

https://docs.google.com/drawings/d/1uxcZucH_4thSMk4SNT_WU_ItRf1kATAPANSXqllJH14/edit

Bibliography

http://pukeariki.com/Learning-Research/Taranaki-Research-Centre/Taranaki-Stories/Taranaki-Story/id/334/title/pacifist-of-parihaka-te-whiti-o-rongomai

http://www.teara.govt.nz/en/biographies/2t34/te-whiti-o-rongomai-iii-erueti

http://www.nzhistory.net.nz/people/erueti-te-whiti-o-rongomai-iii

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Te_Whiti_o_Rongomai

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parihaka_(song)

By Aleece

Haiku

Haiku

Small fish swims blindly

Through black dark water swimming

Nobody to help

Light shining through leaves

Flittering Tui flying calm

Chirping sweet in sky

By Aleece

Room One Ski Trip

WALT:To write to express ideas. Context Ski Trip.

We were allowed to choose the way we responded to the ski trip.

This term in week four, Monday the 15th of August room one went on our class ski trip. We were going up to the Porter Heights Ski Field. We had been told to arrive at school at quarter to seven, so we would get a good start. I was super excited, and tired. I couldn’t wait to get to school.

When we arrived at school we went straight into the classroom to wait for everybody else to arrive. We were sent off in our car groups, in mine was Kieran, Bradley, Bradley’s dad, my dad and me. We packed the car and were ready to go. The drive was going to be a long one two hours. With a car full of boys. They talked and sang, they danced and yelled, they pushed and poked until the drive was finally over.

When we arrived at the ski field we found it was almost empty, it was only nine o'clock after all. We headed down to the main building to wait while our teacher went to go and get the tickets. We had to wait a while though because there was over thirty-four kids and at least five adults. The field was fairly busy by now so we had to wait at least half an hour before we were able to get our gear, but as soon as we had it we hit the slopes as fast as we could.

At first we all had to start on the beginner slope so that the teachers could see how experienced we were. Soon enough I was allowed to go over to the intermediate slope. Nervous, but excited I was ready to go. After two or three runs on that slope I was ready to go on the chairlift.

I was super excited to go on the chairlift, but mainly nervous. I was rushing to get to the gates so wouldn’t miss the chairlift. I rushed so much that I went straight past the line. Lisa (Molly’s Mum) had to grab me and pull me up through the air onto the seat. If she hadn’t I would have been hit in the head with the seat. We had a few runs down the chairlift most of them running smoother than the first one. Then we had to have a quick lunch break before our lesson.

Our lesson started at twelve-thirty, at first we started our lesson on the intermediate slope so that our instructor could see what we could do and what we already knew. After we had done only one run on the Pommer (The Intermediate Slope) we headed up the chairlift for the rest of the lesson. It was a great lesson with people not only from our school, but from other schools too. Once the lesson was over we decided to head up the chairlift.

Molly and I went on a double and little did we know this was a bad choice. I had never been on a T-Bar before and it was harder than it looked. I didn't know that you had to pull yourself in front of the bar and I had to cling on as hard as I could at the back of the bar. I would have just jumped off, but my ski jacket was hooked so I couldn't move. It was a relief when we were at the end of T-One. Molly and I decided it was best if we didn’t share a seat this time so I shared one with my dad. The ride with my dad up T-Two went fairly fine, with no major disasters. It was the same with T-Three. When we got to the top there was an amazing view. It was breathtaking. Coming down the Cat Track was super fun it was steep with winding corners. When we finally got to the bottom we were exhausted and it was time to go.

I really enjoyed our class ski trip it was heaps of fun. I can’t wait until we go again next year. I had a fantastic trip and learnt a lot of new things. I think everyone there had a great time.

By Aleece