Tahu Russell (Nutira whānau) was approached by the RSA to give an ANZAC Day speech (reproduced below) at the ANZAC Memorial in Kaiapoi. Earlier that morning, he presented his speech at the dawn parade. He also gave the speech at the regional RSA speech competition. Later Lieutenant Commander Karl Knowles from the Australian Navy spoke with Tahu, as they discussed his plans to join the Army to undertake officer training. [Read more…]

Kia ora, my name is Tahu Russell and I am a 16-year-old student at Kaiapoi High School. I am a mokopuna of the late Maurice Nutira and son of Paul and Sharon Russell.

In September, I was honoured to be selected as one of the six students to travel to China. Eighty-five schools nominated students for this trip, so I felt very humbled to have been selected. I was the only Māori student selected, so I was extremely proud to share my heritage with the Chinese students in the town of Chengdu, in Sichuan province. [Read more…]