Sir Graham Stanley Latimer (7 February 1926 – 7 June 2016) was a New Zealand Māori leader, chosen in the late 1960s to be a new leader to resolve Māori grievances. He was a member of the

New Zealand Māori Council The New Zealand Māori Council is a body representing and consulting the Māori people of New Zealand. The council is one of the oldest Māori representative groups. Recently, the council increased its focus on social challenges and issues that ...

from 1964, and president from 1973. In 1987 he initiated a successful appeal against the State-Owned Enterprises Act leading to actions against the Crown relating to land, forests, fisheries and te reo Māori (mortgaging his farm at Taipuha for the expenses).

Biography

Latimer was born on the

Aupouri Peninsula The Aupouri Peninsula is a tombolo at the northern tip of the North Island of New Zealand. It projects between the Tasman Sea to the west and the Pacific Ocean to the east. It constitutes the northern part of the Far North District, incorporat ...

south of

Te Kao Te Kao is a village on the Aupouri Peninsula of Northland, New Zealand. Te Aupōuri are mana whenua (tribe with traditional authority over a territory) over Te Kao and the surrounding district, and it is the principal settlement of the iwi (trib ...

in Northland, then a depressed area. His mother, Lillian, was Irish-Scottish and his father, Graham, of mixed Anglo-Saxon and Māori ancestry; he was their third son. As well as being a Pākehā–Māori marriage, the bride was Catholic and the groom Anglican, so the couple married in the local police station. The family lived at Pamapuria seven kilometres from

Kaitaia Kaitaia ( mi, Kaitāia) is a town in the Far North District of New Zealand, at the base of the Aupouri Peninsula, about 160 km northwest of Whangārei. It is the last major settlement on New Zealand State Highway 1, State Highway 1. Ahipara ...

. Latimer attended three primary schools, and then went to Kaitaia District High School. He left after two weeks, as he was needed to help hand-milk the small family herd of 14 dairy cows on 48 acres. When the herd was sold because of disputes within his (extended family), he worked on other farms. He enlisted in the Army in 1943, and went to Japan in 1946–47 in

Jayforce J Force (sometimes referred to as "Jayforce") was the name given to the New Zealand forces that were allocated to the British Commonwealth Occupation Force (BCOF) which occupied Japan following the end of the Second World War. The force was deploy ...

as part of the army of occupation. In 1948, Latimer married Emily Moore; the couple would have five children over their own and were parents to more than 20 other children through

whāngai adoption Whāngai adoption, often referred to simply as whāngai (literally, "to nourish"), is a traditional method of open adoption among the Māori people of New Zealand. Whāngai is a community process rather than a legal process, and usually involves a ...

. Latimer worked for the New Zealand Railways until 1961, becoming stationmaster at

Kaiwaka Kaiwaka "the little town of lights" is a settlement in Northland, New Zealand. The Kaiwaka River runs from the east through the area and joins with the Wairau River to form the Otamatea River, which drains into the Kaipara Harbour. State Hig ...

in 1952. From 1961 he was a farmer on the

Kaipara Harbour Kaipara Harbour is a large enclosed harbour estuary complex on the north western side of the North Island of New Zealand. The northern part of the harbour is administered by the Kaipara District and the southern part is administered by the Auckl ...

; to 1979 at Tinopai and from 1979 to 1995 at Taipuha. In 1995 he returned to Pamapuria. Latimer was made a spokesman for

Ngāti Whātua Ngāti Whātua is a Māori iwi (tribe) of the lower Northland Peninsula of New Zealand's North Island. It comprises a confederation of four hapū (subtribes) interconnected both by ancestry and by association over time: Te Uri-o-Hau, Te Roroa, Te ...

(though his own hapū is

Ngāti Kahu Ngāti Kahu is a Māori iwi of Northland, New Zealand. The iwi is one of the six Muriwhenua iwi of the far north of the North Island. Ngāti Kahu take their name from their founding ancestress, Kahutianui, and link their ancestry back to the wak ...

from the Aupouri Peninsula) and a Māori warden in 1956. In 1963 he was elected to the Tai Tokerau District Māori Council in 1963 and one of three members representing te Tai Tokerau on the New Zealand Māori Council 1964. On the New Zealand Māori Council he was vice-president 1969 and president from 1973. In 1977 he was appointed one of the first three members of the

Waitangi Tribunal The Waitangi Tribunal (Māori: ''Te Rōpū Whakamana i te Tiriti o Waitangi'') is a New Zealand permanent commission of inquiry established under the Treaty of Waitangi Act 1975. It is charged with investigating and making recommendations on cla ...

. He was chairman of the

Crown Forestry Rental Trust A crown is a traditional form of head adornment, or hat, worn by monarchs as a symbol of their power and dignity. A crown is often, by extension, a symbol of the monarch's government or items endorsed by it. The word itself is used, partic ...

from 1990, and a member of the Treaty of Waitangi Fisheries Commission between 1993 and 1998. He retrieved tūpuna Māori from an English auction house in 1988, and stopped the public sale of human remains. Latimer was active in other organisations, the Anglican General Synod, on the board of the

Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa The Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa is New Zealand's national museum and is located in Wellington. ''Te Papa Tongarewa'' translates literally to "container of treasures" or in full "container of treasured things and people that spring fr ...

, a member of the Alcoholic Liquor Advisory Council and was a director of several commercial enterprises. He was a member of the National Party, and was Māori vice-president from 1981 to 1992. He stood in the

Northern Maori Northern Maori was one of New Zealand's four original parliamentary Māori electorates established in 1868, along with Eastern Maori, Western Maori and Southern Maori. In 1996, with the introduction of MMP, the Maori electorates were updated, an ...

electorate in and , coming second for National both times. He died in 2016 at the age of 90 after suffering from

Parkinson's disease Parkinson's disease (PD), or simply Parkinson's, is a long-term degenerative disorder of the central nervous system that mainly affects the motor system. The symptoms usually emerge slowly, and as the disease worsens, non-motor symptoms becom ...

Honours and awards

In the 1980 Queen's Birthday Honours, Latimer was appointed a

Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Latimer, Graham Stanley 1926 births 2016 deaths New Zealand Army personnel New Zealand farmers New Zealand National Party politicians People from the Northland Region New Zealand Māori farmers Ngāti Whātua people Ngāti Kahu people New Zealand Knights Commander of the Order of the British Empire New Zealand Anglicans Unsuccessful candidates in the 1972 New Zealand general election Unsuccessful candidates in the 1969 New Zealand general election New Zealand people of Irish descent New Zealand people of Scottish descent New Zealand people of English descent Members of the Waitangi Tribunal New Zealand military personnel of World War II