Mihimihi: Where do you come from, Peter John Mellalieu?

Ko Ruapehu te maunga
Ko Waikato te awa
Ko Huguenot te iwi
Ko Geering te rangatira
Ko Mellalieu te hapū
Ko Pukawa te marae
Ko Boeing te waka
Ko Jean-Pierre ahau

My personal mihimihi first presented to introduce my graduation address (Korero te puawaitanga) ‘Our graduation is a landmark in our journey towards building our wealth and caring for our environment’, Te Wananga a Aotearoa,  Tamaki Makaurau Graduation 2009.

Ruapehu is my mountain
Waikato is my river
Huguenot is my tribe
Geering is my [thought] leader
Mellalieu is my family
Pukawa is my village
Boeing is my mode of transport [to Aotearoa New Zealand]
I stand before you: Peter John

Western ‘equivalence’ statement:

Peter J. MELLALIEU, PhD, BTech(Hons), MPubPol, teaches strategy, innovation, and new venture development at Unitec Institute of Technology.

Having emigrated from the United Kingdom in the mid-1960s Peter grew up in the Waikato, later studying biotechnology and industrial engineering management at Massey University (Manawatu).

Following work as an agribusiness applied mathematician in Wellington, he worked as a software programmer in a new venture CAD/CAM systems company in Belgium, close to his family’s 17th century roots as a Protestant silk-weaver in northern France.

Returning to the Manawatu in 1987, he commenced a teaching career at Massey University from where he spent many happy hours walking, sailing, and skiing with family,  friends, and students on Mt Ruapehu and Pukawa, Lake Taupo.

In 2000, he organised a conference on the theme of strategies for sustainability and success in which he engaged thought leader theologian Lloyd Geering as keynote speaker.

Lloyd Geering: thought leader

Geering, L. (2000). Taking our Bearings in 2000 AD. In Strategies for Sustainability and Success: The Role and Impact of Strategic Thinking in the Development of Sustainable Enterprise (Vol. 8). Presented at the Proceedings of the 8th Annual Educators Conference of the New Zealand Strategic Management Society, Christchurch, N.Z.: New Zealand Strategic Management Society. Retrieved from http://web.mac.com/petermellalieu/NZSMS/Publications/Entries/2000/2/3_Lloyd_GEERING%3A_Taking_our_Bearings_in_2000_AD.html

Graduation address

Mellalieu, P. J. (2009, May 14). Our graduation is a landmark in our journey towards building our wealth and caring for our environment. Graduation address/Korero te puawaitanga, Tamaki Makaurau Graduation 2009, Te Wananga a Aotearoa, Malaeola Community Centre, Mangere, Manakau City. Retrieved from http://web.mac.com/petermellalieu/Teacher/Examples/Entries/2009/5/14_Graduation_speech%3A_a_landmark_in_our_journey_towards_building_our_wealth_and_caring_for_our_environment.html

Whakapapa Mellalieu: The genealogy and history of the Mellalieu family

Two years ago I studied Iwi Environmental Management at Te Wananga a Aotearoa. My motivation  was to improve my undertstanding of development and sustainability issues relating to the indigenous people of Aotearoa New Zealand, the Maori.

As part of the course, students were required to produce and present their whakapapa: the history of their family’s origins and development.Knowledge of one’s whakapapa is an essential part of one’s identity as a Maori. Perhaps the most polite question you can ask a stranger in New Zealand is “where do you come from?”. Increasingly, other migrants to New Zealand are researching their personal whakapapa.

Today, I recieved notice that my cousin had obtained an heraldic coat of alms, ostensibly from Normandy, north-west France, dated 1696. This information conflicted with my own research that identified our family as refugee protestants who had migrated to England from the French town of Malaloy, near Nancy in north-east France. They arrived in Middleton, Lancashire in 1635 and established a silk-weaving enterprise.

From UK census records, I suspect that the name Mellalieu was newly-created by these refugees from Malaloy in England. The name may never have existed in France.

Accordingly, I have made available to our family the research I conducted as a facebook photo album, as a basis for the family’s further investigation.

If any other Mellalieu-named person wishes to view my research, they can view the photo album of my keynote presentation here:

Mellalieu, P. (2008, May 28). Whakapapa Mellalieu: The geneology and history of the Mellalieu family. Presented in partical fullfilment for the requirtements for the Certificate in Iwi Environmental Management at Te Wananga a Aotearoa, Mangere, Auckland. Retrieved from http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=240803&id=735589897&l=0dc68ac5ae

For a sample from my presentation, on tumblr, see here.

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