Flags in the small seaside community of Maketu flew at half-mast as one of New Zealand's leading lights was brought back for his final farewells.
Hundreds gathered at the Whakaue Marae on the shores of the Maketu Estuary on Sunday to watch Sir Peter Tapsell's body taken from the hearse he had travelled in from Ruatoria on to the paepae at his home marae.
His body arrived about 12.30pm in a coffin hand-made by his elder son, Reese.
Sir Peter, New Zealand's first Maori Speaker of Parliament, died in his sleep on Thursday at his home in Ruatoria on the East Coast. He was 82.
He was born and lived in Rotorua for much of his life, working as an orthopaedic surgeon before becoming an MP in 1981 and serving until 1996.