{"id":255402,"date":"2026-01-28T06:03:07","date_gmt":"2026-01-28T06:03:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/255402\/"},"modified":"2026-01-28T06:03:07","modified_gmt":"2026-01-28T06:03:07","slug":"northland-teacher-and-sportsman-harry-darkins-farewelled-at-whangarei","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/255402\/","title":{"rendered":"Northland teacher and sportsman Harry Darkins farewelled at Whang\u0101rei"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"vwaNpWtPaxhXkxNi\" style=\"display:none\">Darkins, 36, died after being struck by a vehicle on Puketona Rd in Haruru in the early hours of January 18. <\/p>\n<p class=\"vwaNpWtPaxhXkxNi\" style=\"display:none\">Police are continuing to investigate the incident. <\/p>\n<p class=\"vwaNpWtPaxhXkxNi\" style=\"display:none\">Darkins was a teacher at Whang\u0101rei Intermediate School for three years, and a teacher at Whang\u0101rei Boys\u2019 High School for 11 years, before moving to Auckland in 2024 to take up a teaching position at Ormiston Junior College. <\/p>\n<p class=\"vwaNpWtPaxhXkxNi\" style=\"display:none\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nzherald.co.nz\/northern-advocate\/news\/tributes-pour-in-for-northland-educator-and-sportsman-harry-darkins-killed-in-haruru\/HZZI27O6V5FD7NAQU76A3TWNPA\/\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.nzherald.co.nz\/northern-advocate\/news\/tributes-pour-in-for-northland-educator-and-sportsman-harry-darkins-killed-in-haruru\/HZZI27O6V5FD7NAQU76A3TWNPA\/\">He was also a talented sportsman and coach<\/a>, having played rugby sevens and cricket for various Northland clubs over the years, including Onerahi Central Cricket Club, City Cricket Club and the Northland Men\u2019s team. <\/p>\n<p class=\"vwaNpWtPaxhXkxNi\" style=\"display:none\">Darkins was a current member of the Northland M\u0101ori T\u0101ne team. <\/p>\n<p class=\"vwaNpWtPaxhXkxNi\" style=\"display:none\">A celebration of his life will be held at the Old Boys Marist Rugby Club in Whang\u0101rei on Saturday at 2pm. <\/p>\n<p class=\"vwaNpWtPaxhXkxNi\" style=\"display:none\">Family, friends and \u201call whose lives were touched by Harry\u201d are invited. <\/p>\n<p class=\"vwaNpWtPaxhXkxNi\" style=\"display:none\">Rory said the event was a chance for people to reconnect with each other and share stories and memories. <\/p>\n<p class=\"vwaNpWtPaxhXkxNi\" style=\"display:none\">\u201cHarry was so well known and so well liked across so many communities. <\/p>\n<p class=\"vwaNpWtPaxhXkxNi\" style=\"display:none\">\u201cIt\u2019s an opportunity for those who want to celebrate his life and connect and grieve together, and think about what his life has given us. <\/p>\n<p class=\"vwaNpWtPaxhXkxNi\" style=\"display:none\">\u201cHis life is very much worth celebrating and he would want this to draw people closer.\u201d <\/p>\n<p class=\"vwaNpWtPaxhXkxNi\" style=\"display:none\">Darkins left behind his partner Hana and 12-year-old daughter Iylah. He was also a step-father to Ruby, 7, and Ivy, 5. <\/p>\n<p class=\"vwaNpWtPaxhXkxNi\" style=\"display:none\">A <a href=\"https:\/\/givealittle.co.nz\/cause\/support-for-hana-and-harrys-whanau\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/givealittle.co.nz\/cause\/support-for-hana-and-harrys-whanau\">Givealittle page<\/a> set up to support Darkins\u2019 family has so far raised more than $5500. <\/p>\n<p class=\"vwaNpWtPaxhXkxNi\" style=\"display:none\">Rory said the family also thanked police, who were being thorough with their investigation. <\/p>\n<p class=\"vwaNpWtPaxhXkxNi\" style=\"display:none\">\u201cWe know everyone is doing their best. <\/p>\n<p class=\"vwaNpWtPaxhXkxNi\" style=\"display:none\">\u201cThe police we\u2019ve dealt with have been really gracious and supportive and we\u2019re grateful to them as well and all the efforts they\u2019re putting in.\u201d <\/p>\n<p class=\"vwaNpWtPaxhXkxNi\" style=\"display:none\">Police have confirmed the driver of the vehicle that struck Darkins stopped immediately after the crash. <\/p>\n<p class=\"vwaNpWtPaxhXkxNi\" style=\"display:none\">The vehicle was seized, and a scene examination was carried out by serious crash investigators. <\/p>\n<p class=\"vwaNpWtPaxhXkxNi\" style=\"display:none\">Police continue to ask any witnesses to come forward, particularly anyone in Haruru Falls between 11.55pm on Saturday, January 17, and 12.10am on Sunday, January 18. <\/p>\n<p class=\"vwaNpWtPaxhXkxNi\" style=\"display:none\">The celebration of Darkins\u2019 life will also be live streamed on <a href=\"https:\/\/url.au.m.mimecastprotect.com\/s\/d35JCROA2YuXWD2lt9fKH1VLrf?domain=share.funeral.stream\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/url.au.m.mimecastprotect.com\/s\/d35JCROA2YuXWD2lt9fKH1VLrf?domain=share.funeral.stream\" target=\"_blank\">https:\/\/share.funeral.stream\/ArQWG<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"vwaNpWtPaxhXkxNi\" style=\"display:none\">The link will be available via Morris and Morris Funerals\u2019 website.<\/p>\n<p class=\"vwaNpWtPaxhXkxNi\" style=\"display:none\">Jenny Ling is a senior journalist at the Northern Advocate. She has a special interest in covering human interest stories, along with finance, roading, and social issues. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Darkins, 36, died after being struck by a vehicle on Puketona Rd in Haruru in the early hours&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":255403,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[95,1975,177,147599,8231,2109,37235,2070,86334,4532,9859,305,424,111,139,1067,69,13084,54894,213,6792,7574,165,8229,1869],"class_list":["post-255402","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-and","tag-at","tag-celebrate","tag-darkins","tag-event","tag-family","tag-farewelled","tag-full","tag-gratitude","tag-grief","tag-harry","tag-have","tag-life","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-northland","tag-nz","tag-prepare","tag-spoken","tag-sports","tag-sportsman","tag-teacher","tag-their","tag-they","tag-whangrei"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/255402","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=255402"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/255402\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/255403"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=255402"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=255402"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=255402"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}