Firstly, this is my expression of affection for the stalwarts of Ngāti Maru who have passed on, Josephine Nona Woods and Hazel Pareteuira Ngātaierua Peri, as well as stalwarts in the wider Māori world, to Sir Wira Gardiner and to the esteemed June Jackson. Our tears fall for them. Paddle your canoe to our ancestors, to great Hawaiki, to long Hawaiki, to distant Hawaiki. Rest in peace you noble ones.