ERANA MURIWAI

Te Ao Hou, July 1956, Page 60

ERANA MURIWAI by Roberta Cook Mrs Erana Muriwai of the Ngahengahe subtribe of the Ngapuhi tribe, died at Maraeroa, near Horeke, Northland, recently. Mrs Muriwai, who was 110, was born at Rawene five years after the Treaty of Waitangi was signed. All her life she had lived on the shores of the Hokianga Harbour. It was in January, 1954, that Mrs Muriwai was presented to the Queen at the Rotorua aerodrome. She regarded this meeting as the highlight of her long life. She had been sitting for two hours and was dressed in black for the occasion. Mrs Muriwai had seen the Queen for only a moment in Northland and had made the long journey to Rotorua so she could see her again, staying with her daughter Mrs G. Yates. She did not expect to meet the Queen personally and did not know until a few minutes before the Queen's arrival, when she was told by the Prime Minister (Mr Holland), that the Queen would speak to her. Mrs Muriwai said after meeting the Queen for a few moments: “I did not say much to her but I said how proud I was to meet our Queen Victoria's great-great-granddaughter.”