The death of Māori Party founding figure, Whatarangi Winiata, marks a month of loss for Māoridom – Dr Areti Metuamate
Ngāti Raukawa leader Professor Whatarangi Winiata pictured in Kaitaia, November 12, 2009. He was the founding president of the Māori Party.
THE FACTS
- Ngāti Raukawa leader Professor Whatarangi Winiata has died age 92.
- Winiata was a founding figure and the first president of the Māori Party.
- He also helped establish Te Wānanga o Raukawa in Ōtaki – the first Māori higher education institution.
Over the past few weeks, Māoridom has lost three of its greatest modern leaders: Sir Tāmati Reedy, Sir Hirini Moko Mead, and now Professor Whatarangi Winiata, known to many simply as Matua Whatarangi. The scale of this loss is difficult to overstate. It is monumental.
To put it in terms more familiar to the wider public, it is akin to New Zealand losing three loved and respected former Prime Ministers in the space of a month. These were deeply respected nation builders whose ideas, institutions and leadership helped shape not just Māoridom but modern New Zealand.
Sir Tāmati was a leading advocate for te reo Māori and Māori education. Sir Hirini was one of the country’s most respected Māori scholars and cultural leaders. Whatarangi Winiata was a visionary strategist who challenged Māori to think not just about the next year or the next election cycle, but about the generations to come.
The tributes flowing since his passing have rightly focused on his role in establishing Te Wānanga o Raukawa and his service as a founding figure and first president of the Māori Party. Both were significant achievements. But for those of us from his iwi, his greatest contribution was how he changed our world forever.
That transformation began with a simple but radical idea: that our people needed to plan not for the next few years, but for the generations ahead.
In 1975, Matua Whatarangi was one of the principal architects of Whakatupuranga Rua Mano, a long-term strategy for Raukawa. At a time when many Māori communities were grappling with language loss and cultural dislocation, it challenged our people to think strategically about future generations. It prioritised language revitalisation, education, leadership development and the creation of strong Māori institutions that could carry those aspirations forward.
More than 50 years later, its success is evident.
My generation grew up with the expectation that we would learn our language, pursue education, contribute to our people, and prepare ourselves for leadership. We grew up surrounded by Māori institutions, Māori leaders, and opportunities that earlier generations had fought hard to create. Looking back now, it is clear that many of the things my generation takes for granted were the direct result of Matua Whatarangi’s vision.
Matua Whatarangi seemed to operate on a different time horizon from most people. While others focused on immediate issues, he was interested in where our people would be in 50 or 100 years’ time. He always challenged us to think beyond ourselves.
The question he often posed was not what was best for us, but what we were doing to ensure future generations would inherit a stronger language, stronger institutions and a stronger people. That long-term thinking shaped everything he did.
He famously declined New Zealand royal honours because recognition was never what motivated him. His satisfaction came from seeing his people thrive. He was quietly spoken but had one of the sharpest minds of his generation, and he carried that intellect with humility and generosity. He expected a great deal of us, but only because he genuinely believed in what we were capable of becoming.
The influence of Matua Whatarangi’s work extends far beyond his own iwi. Thousands of graduates have passed through Te Wānanga o Raukawa. Māori organisations, educational institutions and iwi authorities throughout New Zealand are led by people whose thinking was shaped directly or indirectly by the ideas he helped foster.
The confidence with which many Māori now engage with the world owes much to leaders such as Matua Whatarangi, and indeed Sir Tāmati and Sir Hirini. Together, they helped transform Māori life during the past half century. Their legacy can be seen in the revival of te reo Māori, the growth of Māori educational institutions, the strength of iwi organisations and the confidence with which Māori participate in every sphere of New Zealand life.
More than 50 years ago, Matua Whatarangi challenged our people to think in generations. Today, those generations are here. We speak the language he worked to revive, lead institutions he helped inspire, and carry forward the aspirations he believed were possible.
While New Zealand is poorer for the loss of these three giant tōtara, in many ways we are richer because of what they gave us: language, knowledge, confidence, and the strength of our institutions and the aspirations of our people. They challenged us to think beyond ourselves and beyond our own time. The generations that follow are now their legacy.
Dr Areti Metuamate (Ngāti Kauwhata, Ngāti Raukawa ki te Tonga, Ngāti Haua) is a political scientist and Master of Ormond College at the University of Melbourne.
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