A mural of a local man saving sailors from a shipwreck has been opened at Broadgreen lntermediate, as part of a new initiative at the Nelson school to help students “make the right choices” to support their well-being.

Representatives of local iwi, Ngāti Koata, attended the unveiling on Wednesday of the mural depicting Hohāpata Te Kahupuku helping rescue the crew of the Delaware, which was driven onto rocks during a storm on the Whakapuaka coast in 1863.

A panel next to the mural described how Hohāpata, of Ngāti Koata, Ngāti Toa, and Ngāi Tahu, was among residents of a nearby pā who rushed to the beach.

He plunged into the raging surf and retrieved the leadline thrown by one of the crew on the Delaware, and tied it to a second rope before hauling the rope to the shore, it said.

Those onboard used the rope to get to safety onshore. Only one sailor did not make it.

Hohāpata’s great grandaughter, Nolamay Campbell, told the students their school was the first to tell this version of the rescue.

“It has been taught in a different way, and when my eldest sister, who is now 85, said ‘please sir, that’s not how it happened’, she got the strap.”

The Delaware rescue had become aligned with a story about a young girl who helped her father rescue sailors in England, said Campbell, chairperson of the Ngāti Koata kaunihera/council.

“The study that standard two children got taught in schools was Hūria Mātenga; New Zealand’s Grace Darling.

”She’s not mentioned in our story. I’m not saying she wasn’t there, but our version was, she didn’t swim.”

Campbell’s grandmother had written the events portrayed in the mural in her diary, and Campbell’s mother had kept the story alive, Campbell said.

Having the school depict it was exciting, she said.

“Our aim is not to trample on her [Hūria Mātenga’s] mana.

”This is our version of the truth.

“[Students] still have to know that there are other versions … but if you only hear one version, you’re uninformed.”

The artwork was created by school art teacher, Jeana Freeman (Packer), with guidance and support from Ngāti Koata.

Several school students and children descended from Hohāpata were involved in the painting.

Most of the around 30 iwi representatives at the mural opening were his direct descendants.

Great grandaughter, Melanie McGregor, said Hohāpata was a “super hero” to them.

Some of the school’s values, outlined by the principal, Peter Mitchener, fit “right in” with the story, she said.

”We help people, save their lives; an example for all the children of the school to follow and look after each other.”

Mitchener said the mural was part of a school initiative named after the school’s vision – Kia whakamana Kia toa/empowering for life – that Broadgreen Intermediate was piloting under the school’s hauora (holistic health and physical education) programme.

The school approached the Ministry of Education for support to review and enhance the programme, after a spike in anti-social behaviour among students, and as the hauora area of learning in the curriculum was being re-designed with a focus on mental health.

The initiative was about empowering students to make the right choices, including having a healthy lifestyle, actively participating in their education, and being “an upstander not a bystander,” Mitchener said.

Hōhapata’s story was “an awesome opportunity for us to use local stories from real people within our community to celebrate their achievements and their values and to embed it within our school vision,” he said.

“Having a local hero who is being identified as someone who was a humble person, but at the right time would step forward and do an amazing thing.”