Ihakara Porutu "Kara" Puketapu (26 February 1934 – 7 July 2023) was a New Zealand public servant and

Māori Māori or Maori can refer to: Relating to the Māori people * Māori people of New Zealand, or members of that group * Māori language, the language of the Māori people of New Zealand * Māori culture * Cook Islanders, the Māori people of the C ...

leader. He served as Secretary of Maori Affairs and was later chair of Te Āti Awa based in

Waiwhetū Waiwhetū is an eastern suburb of Lower Hutt in the Wellington Region situated in the south of the North Island of New Zealand. In the 19th-century period of European settlement it was worked by Irish-born Alfred Ludlam, who was a member of thr ...

, Lower Hutt.

Early life and education

Puketapu was born in Waiwhetū on 26 February 1934 to

Īhāia Puketapu Īhāia Pōrutu Puketapu (7 February 1887 – 1 July 1971) was a New Zealand tribal leader, butcher, roading contractor and labourer. Of Māori descent, he identified with the Te Āti Awa iwi. He was born in Waiwhetū, New Zealand, on 7 Feb ...

of the Te Āti Awa

iwi Iwi () are the largest social units in New Zealand Māori society. In Māori roughly means "people" or "nation", and is often translated as "tribe", or "a confederation of tribes". The word is both singular and plural in the Māori language, an ...

and

Taranaki Taranaki is a region in the west of New Zealand's North Island. It is named after its main geographical feature, the stratovolcano of Mount Taranaki, also known as Mount Egmont. The main centre is the city of New Plymouth. The New Plymouth Dist ...

-born Vera May Yeates, a

Pākehā Pākehā (or Pakeha; ; ) is a Māori term for New Zealanders primarily of European descent. Pākehā is not a legal concept and has no definition under New Zealand law. The term can apply to fair-skinned persons, or to any non-Māori New Ze ...

, who were both on their second marriages. He attended primary school in Waiwhetu and attended the

Wellington Technical college , seal_image = , motto = Excellence in Learning , type = State secondary , established = 1886 , streetaddress = 249 Taranaki Street , city = Wellington , postcode = 6011 , country = New Zealand , ...

. He then graduated with a degree in geography from Victoria University and followed up on his studies with a PhD at the

University of New Mexico The University of New Mexico (UNM; es, Universidad de Nuevo México) is a public research university in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Founded in 1889, it is the state's flagship academic institution and the largest by enrollment, with over 25,400 ...

cultural anthropology Cultural anthropology is a branch of anthropology focused on the study of cultural variation among humans. It is in contrast to social anthropology, which perceives cultural variation as a subset of a posited anthropological constant. The portma ...

. Puketapu grew up in Taranaki and rose through the ranks of the

Ministry of Maori Affairs Ministry may refer to: Government * Ministry (collective executive), the complete body of government ministers under the leadership of a prime minister * Ministry (government department), a department of a government Religion * Christian mi ...

(later named the Ministry of Māori Affairs and ultimately Te Puni Kōkiri) to become Secretary of Maori Affairs.

Professional career

In 1973, Puketapu was appointed chief administration officer with Foreign Affairs in the New Zealand House in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

, Great Britain. He served in that position until 1975. In 1977, he became the secretary of Māori Affairs and Māori Trustee. During his time as Secretary of Māori Affairs, Puketapu chaired the management committee of ''

Te Maori ''Te Maori'' (sometimes ''Te Māori'' in modern sources) was a watershed exhibition of Māori art in 1984 (later continued to 1985, 1986 and 1987). It is notable as the first occasion on which Māori art had been exhibited by Māori, and also th ...

'', the international exhibition of Māori objects as art. In the United States, it was exhibited in 1984 in the

Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York City, colloquially "the Met", is the largest art museum in the Americas. Its permanent collection contains over two million works, divided among 17 curatorial departments. The main building at 1000 ...

, the Saint Louis Art Museum and the M.H. de Young Memorial Museum in 1985 and in the

Field Museum The Field Museum of Natural History (FMNH), also known as The Field Museum, is a natural history museum in Chicago, Illinois, and is one of the largest such museums in the world. The museum is popular for the size and quality of its educational ...

of Chicago in 1986. Between 1986 and 1987, ''Te Maori'' toured New Zealand. Puketapu also rose in standing within his iwi to become chairperson of the Te Āti Awa rūnanga (tribal council). In 2011, they clashed with local authorities over the custodianship of waka. In 2008, Puketapu resigned from the Port Nicholson Block Treaty Settlement Trust chaired by

Sir Ngatata Love ''Sir'' is a formal honorific address in English for men, derived from Sire in the High Middle Ages. Both are derived from the old French "Sieur" (Lord), brought to England by the French-speaking Normans, and which now exist in French only as ...

over the compensation for Waiwhetū land confiscated by

the Crown The Crown is the state in all its aspects within the jurisprudence of the Commonwealth realms and their subdivisions (such as the Crown Dependencies, overseas territories, provinces, or states). Legally ill-defined, the term has different ...

in the 1940s. Puketapu is renowned for forging a new direction for the Department to empower Māori development in response to the difficulties being faced by Māori in the urban environment. Under his leadership, several Kōkiri units were established in the Wellington area. These units worked with local communities to devise programmes to support cultural and economic aspirations, thus reversing the normal "top down" approach of government departments. It was at one of these Kōkiri units in Wainuiomata that the first kōhanga reo was established. Puketapu's philosophy is outlined in his book ''Reform from Within''.

Rugby career

Puketapu was a

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In its m ...

player in his youth, playing for the New Zealand Māori team, and later became involved in coaching

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as just rugby league and sometimes football, footy, rugby or league, is a full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular field measuring 68 metres (75 yards) wide and 112 ...

. Puketapu became involved with the

Wainuiomata Lions The Wainuiomata Lions are a New Zealand rugby league club based in Wainuiomata, Wellington. They compete in the Wellington Rugby League competition. In the early 1990s, prior to the creation Lion Red Cup national league competition based on ...

both as a coach and as club president. With the Wainuiomata Lions, he won three national titles in the 1990s. During the

1995 Lion Red Cup The 1995 New Zealand rugby league season was the 88th season of rugby league that had been played in New Zealand. The main feature of the year was the second season of the Lion Red Cup competition that was run by the New Zealand Rugby League. The ...

, Puketapu briefly served as the coach of the Hutt Valley Hawks.

Death

Puketapu died on 7 July 2023 at the age of 89.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Puketapu, Ihakara 1934 births 2023 deaths People from Lower Hutt Te Āti Awa people New Zealand public servants New Zealand Māori public servants Māori All Blacks players New Zealand rugby league coaches New Zealand rugby league administrators