Published in Overland Issue 219 Winter 2015 · Uncategorized Māori dux Nicole Hawkins When they announced his name his Koro swelled onto the stage to pass on his korowai I shed a tear. When the Kuia called out in a voice which took centuries to create to tautoko her boy I felt the blood in my veins stir. Had I not have been so proud in this moment of this boy I’ve never even spoken to I would have remembered to look at your face. Had I been brave enough to learn that haka when I walked these floors I would have gotten up too. How my angry tears would have rejoiced in the opportunity to startle you from the row behind Arms, legs and fingers trembling from beneath my robe Letting centuries of tīpuna rub your nose in it. Nicole Hawkins Nicole Hawkins hails from Ngāti Kahungunu and Ngāti Pahauwera and has strong connections to the Wairarapa. She grew up on the Kāpiti Coast, where she lives and teaches at a secondary school. Nicole is new to writing and credits her time at Victoria University of Wellington, and her fantastic colleagues and inspiring students for encouraging her writing. More by Nicole Hawkins › Overland is a not-for-profit magazine with a proud history of supporting writers, and publishing ideas and voices often excluded from other places. If you like this piece, or support Overland’s work in general, please subscribe or donate. Related articles & Essays 1 6 November 2026 · Friday Fiction Headland Harry Goddard He must have still been sore. I could tell from the winces he made as he scooted down the trail. Some unspoken agreement of not hitting other people’s children — and the circumstances of me not being that type of kid — spared me from the same punishment. I was taken to my parents who agreed I would have to work off the damages, and I must have mowed the lawn once, or cleaned the family car. 4 November 2026 · Film MIFF, Minotaur and the politics of maternal reception Alicia Byrnes Maternal labour is, in the terms I’ve set out here, not labour at all. Noisy, unfocused, mobile, perhaps even sleepy — it is an affront to arthouse film viewing and therefore unserious.
