Healing hope in Billy T rift

By VANESSA BIDOIS

TAUPIRI - Two contrasting memorials to New Zealand entertainment legend Billy T James stand at either end of his Waikato grave - testament to the bitter cultural wrangle that has smouldered since his death nine years ago.

A distinctive headstone and a statue of the late comedian - complete with a red cap, black gumboots and a pint of beer - was unveiled by his uncle Bill Awa, this month.

A second mystery sculpture has since been erected at the foot of the grave on the lower slopes of Taupiri Mountain, north of Ngaruawahia on busy State Highway 1.

The comic star died in August 1991, aged 42, nearly two years after a heart transplant and immediately a family feud broke out over his funeral arrangements.

Mr Awa was one of the group that took Billy T's body from his Muriwai home to his tribal marae in Huntly and Ngaruawahia against the wishes of his widow, Lyn.

The Mt Maunganui man told the Herald that he believed Billy T's daughter Cherie was responsible for the dramatic artwork that was put up after the unveiling.

Cherie and Lyn James could not be contacted for comment yesterday but Mr Awa said he hoped the twin memorials would be a symbol of a healing of the rift.

"I'm happy and I'm proud, and then I'm proud again to see another one on him from the other side so it could be healing."

Upset that the family had failed to replace the rotting white cross on Billy T's grave for nine years, Mr Awa commissioned his neighbour, carver Patch Cedric, to help shape the statue from Hinuera stone.

He said the result was a "dead image" of the performer but a thief ripped the decorative ukulele from Billy T's hands and it was replaced with the pint of beer.

Mr Awa said an upset Cherie James phoned him after hearing news reports about the monument and "abused" him.

But he suspected she was also responsible for placing a pair of sunglasses on the statue.

"She must have had no ill feelings because she must have went and put some shades on her father ... it would be just like Cherie to put them on, and I thought, well, she's accepted our stone, you know, and it looks good."

A Maori church leader and Auckland theology lecturer, Canon Hone Kaa, said there was no kawa (protocol) against more than one memorial on a grave.

"It's a real tribute to Billy that people want to do that because he was a fun guy," Mr Kaa said.

"I can imagine that probably a lot more other people would love to be able to do it but don't have the courage to. He's probably peeing himself with delight, knowing old Billy."

Chris Hegan, the son of Billy T's agent Elaine, who died in 1998, said the pint of beer was unusual because the entertainer rarely drank alcohol.

"I think that Billy's grave should stand out like the grave of a star and the more people that express that in however they feel moved to, the better."