In 1916, the armed colonial police raided the town to quash the establishment of an independent community by charismatic Tuhoe leader Rua Kenana. In the skirmish that followed Kenana's son, Toko Rua, and his close friend Te Maipi, were shot dead.
"I was seven years old when my father told me my grandfather was shot dead by the colonial police," said Don, from Raumati South.
"I was named after him.
"That's when the burden of a deep sadness and grieving was passed by my father into the next generation."
Don spoke publicly of this history for the first time in October, 2007, to the local paper.
He recounted that story immediately after the country was shocked by the news that 300 police, including the Special Tactics Group using the Terrorism Suppression Act, had raided Ruatoki, another Tuhoe community in the Ureweras.
"I had to speak out.
"We were lucky no one was killed.
"The raid brought back painful memories of my grandfather shot in the head.
"I never got to meet him.
"The old people remember with sadness what had happened in Maungapohatu.
"I warned that if you keep poking at an old wound you will instigate the very thing you want to prevent.
"Those who think Tuhoe were harbouring terrorists in the Ureweras should try and learn the history of what happened to my people.
"There is an old saying among us that Tuhoe feed the visitors first and then they eat the leftovers.
"It's in reference to the abundance of the land.
"It was this abundance and our culture of generosity that Tuhoe tried to defend against the colonial system that wanted our land for prospecting and milling."
Don's grandfather was part of the Maungapohatu community raised by the Prophet Rua Kenana.
The 1979 Oxford University Press publication titled Miihaia notes that Kenana had withdrawn to the heart of the Urewera to establish this community.
"In the end he failed to realise his dream of economic independence for the Tuhoe, but the problems with which he wrestle were huge.
"If he was defeated in his aspiration, it was in part because Pakeha prejudice was given the power to act with the force of the law, which became the instrument of the prevailing hostility towards Maori local autonomy."
Don said the dream of greater autonomy had never died among the Tuhoe.
"The truth is for a 100 years our sacred mountain Maungapohatu has been a symbol.
"Mate-mate-aaone is a Tuhoe saying that recognises the deep links of love, kindness, affection and attachment to your land, rivers, forests and your ancestors.
"It's like when I lost my son Rakai in July last year.
"That deep sense of loss out of love.
"What happened to my grandfather and what happened to Tuhoe in 1916 at Maungapohatu has sat like a mountain of grief.
"Over 100 years that pain and grief has run from Maungapohatu into its valleys, rivers and streams, and into Tuhoe communities, and into the minds and spirit of its people.
"From the age of seven I carried that grief.
"I have tried to protect my own children from it.
"Until I publicly spoke of this after the Ruatoki raid I had not even told my children.
"They did not even believe me at first."
The Crown acknowledged, in its Settlement Deed that it's actions at Maungapohatu in 1916 breached the Treaty and the Minister for Treaty Negotiations apologised in person at the Settlement Day ceremony held on 24 August 2014 at Taneatua.
The Act specifically mentions the injuries and death of the two young men.
"For that healing to take place the apology delivered at this high level in 2014 needs to flow like a river from Maungapohatu into my community and affected people.
"On Saturday that apology flowed into the hui at Maungapohatu.
"I received it for me and my children and their children.
"Love can overcome everything.
"It will help heal this Mate-mate-aaone that has been there for a 100 years."
