NZ Post Hamilton depot freight investigator and former postie Lani Catherall, 34, stumbled upon a missing piece of her own family history while delivering a letter.
Auckland-born Catherall spent her early years in Wellington before moving to Hamilton seven years ago.
She has been employed by NZ Post for 15 years in Porirua, Rotorua and Hamilton.
Raised predominantly in the Pākehā tradition on her mother’s English side, Catherall embarked on a journey to discover her Māori roots.
On her father’s side of the family lies a story of separation and loss.
“I came across a letter on a street address with my initials on it, but I wasn’t aware of who stayed at that property,” she said.
A conversation with her father unveiled a hidden link to her paternal grandfather.
“I was pretty amazed. Growing up, we never had any interaction with him. This probably fell down to the trauma that my dad had experienced as a young kid.”
Despite initial reservations, and her dad advising her not to bother, Catherall and her sister decided to try to meet him, but when they arrived at the house their grandfather wasn’t home.
Catherall put it to the back of her mind and moved to Hamilton where she met her partner.
With her partner’s family embracing te reo Māori as a big part of their identity, they encouraged her to embark on her own te reo journey.
In 2022, Catherall again thought about her paternal grandfather and knew he could be the key to unlocking information about her nan, from whom the Māori side of her whānau stems.
“So I arranged with the whānau and my koro’s caregiver a time to come down and meet with them at the end of last year.
“My dad didn’t know her, all we had was where she was from and her first and last name.
“I then let my dad know that I was heading down to meet with Koro and asked him if he would come. Surprisingly, he said yes. He wasn’t overly enthusiastic about the idea but agreed.
“Dad was like “we’ll only be there 20 minutes eh”, and I said ‘yeah yeah’. We got there, and we were there for hours. Koro shared photos of Dad when he was little. He even had photos of my sister and I when we were little girls above the fireplace, and Mum and Dad when they were married.”
Catherall says the connection between her dad and koro on that day was beautiful, but her koro was unable to tell them anything about her nan because he is a bit older these days. So, she turned to social media.
After some super-sleuthing on Facebook, she managed to bridge the gap in her family’s history.
A post on a Whanganui marae page led to a reunion with her father’s Taihape-based first cousin.
“It went from us not knowing anything about my dad’s side at all. I went in with an open mind, whether I got a bite or not and we got a bite. So, we’re very rapt about it,” Catherall says.
“From there I rang her and then we met. You can absolutely see the resemblance between her and my dad – my dad is very dark skinned but he has bright-blue eyes. Aunty was fair skinned, but also had bright-blue eyes.”
Warned that they had a massive whānau, Catherall’s “aunty” told her their pepeha and explained that her sister in Auckland had their whakapapa book.
Catherall and her sister made the trip north and photographed the book.
“Aunty wasn’t kidding, it’s pages and pages — but my dad isn’t in there. We found out Dad has probably got about 20 siblings.”
Learning who she is and where she came from has brought a sense of belonging and closure for Catherall. It has helped build her confidence and be proud of who she is.
“Growing up, I never really questioned the Māori side of me. Until you get those questions like what ethnicity are you? I’m like ‘yeah I’m Māori’, and people say, ‘but where are you from?’ And that’s where the big questions came from.
“I’m really proud of my dad. It’s been quite overwhelming connecting with my koro and learning more about my dad’s parents. I think there was so much trauma and mamae on his part, but he’s come such a long way and broken a lot of cycles in his lifetime. He’s really changed for the better and for his whānau.
“At the end of the day, blood is blood, and if I can try and rekindle relationships then I’m all for it. I’m proud to share this story and hope that it encourages others in similar situations. It’s made our whānau stronger.”
Catherall has continued to embrace her Māori heritage, recently graduating from this year’s Te Hononga programme — connecting NZ Post’s Māori leaders through cadetships.
Her next step is to visit her marae and find where her nan was laid to rest.
“I have found my great-grandfather, but still waiting on a response from Aunty about Nan, as I think she might be buried at one of two marae in Whanganui.”
