Iriaka Matiu Rātana (née Te Rio; 25 February 1905 – 21 December 1981) was a New Zealand politician and

Rātana The Rātana movement ( mi, Te Haahi Rātana) is a church and pan-''iwi'' political movement founded by Tahupōtiki Wiremu Rātana in early 20th-century New Zealand. The Rātana Church has its headquarters at the settlement of Rātana Pā near W ...

morehu who won the

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

electorate for Labour in 1949. She succeeded her husband

Matiu Rātana Matiu Rātana (16 December 1912 – 7 October 1949), son of Tahupotiki Wiremu Rātana, was a New Zealand politician and president of the Rātana Church. Political career A younger brother to Haami Tokouru Rātana he succeeded to the Chur ...

to become the first woman to represent Māori in the

New Zealand Parliament The New Zealand Parliament ( mi, Pāremata Aotearoa) is the unicameral legislature of New Zealand, consisting of the King of New Zealand ( King-in-Parliament) and the New Zealand House of Representatives. The King is usually represented by h ...

. She held the electorate until her retirement in 1969.

Early life

An entertainer from an early age, she was a member of the Rātana

kapa haka Kapa haka is the term for Māori action songs and the groups who perform them. It literally means 'group' () and 'dance' (). Kapa haka is an important avenue for Māori people to express and showcase their heritage and cultural Polynesian identi ...

groups and travelled with them throughout New Zealand and overseas. In 1925, she married Tahupōtiki Wiremu Rātana to become his second wife and had two children. Hamuera, the oldest died from tuberculosis in 1934, and the second, Raniera Te Aohou Ratana later became head of the Rātana church. Following her husband's death in 1939, Rātana married

, a son of T. W. Rātana. The couple farmed until the death in 1945 of Matiu's elder brother, Toko Rātana who was Member of Parliament (MP) for the Māori electorate of Western Maori. Matiu Rātana was elected in the 1945 election and held the seat until his accidental death in 1949.

Political career

Iriaka Rātana's decision to stand for parliament was opposed by those supporting traditional leadership roles, with

Te Puea Hērangi Te Puea Hērangi (9 November 1883 – 12 October 1952), known by the name Princess Te Puea, was a Māori leader from New Zealand's Waikato region. Her mother, Tiahuia, was the elder sister of King Mahuta. Early life She was born at Whatiwhati ...

speaking out against her claim to "captain the

Tainui Tainui is a tribal waka confederation of New Zealand Māori iwi. The Tainui confederation comprises four principal related Māori iwi of the central North Island of New Zealand: Hauraki, Ngāti Maniapoto, Ngāti Raukawa and Waikato. There are oth ...

canoe". Only the strong backing of the Rātana church and her threat to stand as a Rātana Independent secured her the Labour Party nomination. She won the

electorate for Labour in the 1949 general election. She succeeded her husband Matiu Ratana to become the first woman to represent Māori in the New Zealand parliament. She got a similar majority (6317) to her husband in 1946 (his majority was 6491), but no fewer than seven independent candidates stood against her; they got 116 to 326 votes each. In May 1959 she was injured in a three-car accident near Sanson in which three people were killed. Among those killed were her farm manager, Charles Larkin, and Larkin's adopted seven-year-old son, Rangi. Rātana and the others injured in the crash were taken to

Palmerston North Palmerston North (; mi, Te Papa-i-Oea, known colloquially as Palmy) is a city in the North Island of New Zealand and the seat of the Manawatū-Whanganui region. Located in the eastern Manawatu Plains, the city is near the north bank of the ...

Hospital. One of the others injured was Pat Curran, a Labour member of the

Auckland City Council Auckland City Council was the local government authority for Auckland City, New Zealand, from 1871 to 1 November 2010, when it and Auckland's six other city and district councils were amalgamated to form the Auckland Council. It was an elected b ...

. She was initially on the seriously ill list, but stabilised. As an MP, Rātana was concerned with welfare issues for Māori. She worked hard to improve living standards, particularly at the church settlement of

Rātana Pā Rātana Pā, or Ratana Community, is a town in the North Island of New Zealand, near Whanganui and Marton in the Manawatū-Whanganui region. The locality was the farm of Tahupōtiki Wiremu Rātana, the founder of a Maori religious and political ...

. She held the electorate until her retirement in 1969. Rātana was appointed an

Officer 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 o ...

, for services to the Māori people, in the

1971 New Year Honours The New Year Honours 1971 were appointments in many of the Commonwealth realms of Queen Elizabeth II to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of those countries. They were announced in supplements to the ''Lond ...

. She died on 21 December 1981 in Wanganui Hospital and was buried at Aramoho Cemetery.

References

* Henderson, James Mcleod (1963). ''Ratana The Man, The Church, The Movement'' (1st ed.) A.H & A.W. Reed Ltd . *''Women in Parliamentary Life 1970–1990: Hocken Lecture 1993'' by Marilyn Waring, page 34 (Hocken Library, University of Otago, 1994) {{DEFAULTSORT:Rātana, Iriaka Matiu 1905 births 1981 deaths New Zealand Labour Party MPs Rātana MPs Women members of the New Zealand House of Representatives New Zealand MPs for Māori electorates Members of the New Zealand House of Representatives New Zealand Officers of the Order of the British Empire Burials at Aramoho Cemetery 20th-century New Zealand politicians 20th-century New Zealand women politicians