Lost boy reunited with his whānau

Tūı sang as David Panui was reunited with his whānau.

He was just 3 years old when he was taken from his family under eugenics policies in the 1940s, and 9 years old when he died of pneumonia and was buried in an unmarked grave in Nelson.

On Wednesday, he went home with he korowai kahukura draped over his small, white coffin.

Katrina Mulitalo (Ngāti Whātua) explains they brought the korowai because they wanted him to be ‘‘covered with a warm blanket’’.

It was her search that led to her lost uncle being found.

Her father, James Panui, was David’s brother, and he remembered a big man coming to take David away from his Auckland home, but never knew why he was taken, or what happened to him.

In 2020, Mulitalo started researching and discovered David was assessed by a eugenics board after getting cerebro-spinal meningitis at age 1.

The board found David had been left partially paralysed and ‘‘with an IQ of barely 30% and will

‘‘David . . . was loved, and he was never, ever forgotten, and was always spoken about.’’ Katrina Mulitalo, niece

probably be totally dependent all his life’’.

Under eugenics policies of the time, he was taken to live in Nelson Mental Hospital.

Eugenicists believed people with disabilities should be separated from the rest of society, to protect the population.

David died of pneumonia in 1950, aged 9, and was buried in an unmarked grave in Nelson’s Wakapuaka Cemetery.

Mulitalo then set about raising money to bring him home through a Givealittle page.

On Wednesday, she made her way to the cemetery along with her brother, nephew and a family friend and was there as David’s remains were recovered.

It was emotional seeing where he had been for the past 72 years, and she said it made them feel at ease. ‘‘We felt he was in a really beautiful place, a most perfect spot looking over the view,’’ Mulitalo said.

Local kaumatua Harvey Ruru delivered a karakia and said it was an emotional event to be a part of.

It was wonderful seeing the family reunited, but also sad because they never should have been parted, he said.

‘‘The wairua uplifts us all and represents us all.

‘‘We recognise those spiritual elements with our dead when we return them back to their home place.’’

It was fitting that tūı¯ sang as David was raised, he said.

‘‘It’s quite significant for Māori when nature joins in on special occasions.’’

Mulitalo said he would lay at home in Auckland until tomorrow and then be laid to rest at Reweti Marae alongside his parents and siblings.

‘‘I know his mother, my grandmother, would be so pleased that he is going home to lay with them.’’

Above all else, they wanted David to know his whānau loved him.

‘‘To let David know that he is treasured and that he was loved, and he was never, ever forgotten, and was always spoken about.’’

The family’s journey wouldn’t have been possible without the donations they received, both through the fundraising page, and from Simplicity Funerals which waived its fees and donated the casket, she said.

‘‘We’re so humbled and so overwhelmed with their generosity to help bring David home.’’

PHOTOS: MARTIN DE RUYTER/STUFF David Panui was taken from his family in Auckland in the 1940s, and later died of pneumonia in Nelson and was buried in an unmarked grave. He has been rediscovered by his family after an emotional search, and will lay at home in Auckland until tomorrow, before being laid to rest alongside his parents and some of his siblings.

James Panui had always wondered what happened to his brother, so his daughter Katrina Mulitalo went searching. She and her family fundraised to bring David home to Auckland.