I grew up in small towns where Pākehā or European New Zealanders weren’t the overwhelmingly predominant culture – Tūākau, Pukekohe, Tokoroa, Tūrangi, Waihi and Hamilton.
In Tūrangi, I’m pretty sure Pākehā were outnumbered by Māori and even Italians, as the Italian work crews and their families were based there building the hydro-electric dam.
And yet despite this, I wasn’t very familiar with either Māori language or