Dame Kāterina Te Heikōkō Mataira (13 November 1932 – 16 July 2011) was a New Zealand

Māori language Māori (), or ('the Māori language'), also known as ('the language'), is an Eastern Polynesian language spoken by the Māori people, the indigenous population of mainland New Zealand. Closely related to Cook Islands Māori, Tuamotuan, and ...

proponent, educator,

intellectual An intellectual is a person who engages in critical thinking, research, and reflection about the reality of society, and who proposes solutions for the normative problems of society. Coming from the world of culture, either as a creator or a ...

, artist and writer. Her efforts to revive and revitalise the Māori language ( te reo Māori) led to the growth of

Kura Kaupapa Māori Kura Kaupapa Māori are Māori-language immersion schools () in New Zealand where the philosophy and practice reflect Māori cultural values with the aim of revitalising Māori language, knowledge and culture. Kura kaupapa Māori are establish ...

in New Zealand.

Biography

Mataira was born in 1932 in

Tokomaru Bay Tokomaru Bay is a small beachside community located on the isolated East Coast of New Zealand's North Island. It is 91 km north of Gisborne, on State Highway 35, and close to Mount Hikurangi. The district was originally known as Toka-a- ...

, on the east coast of the

North Island The North Island, also officially named Te Ika-a-Māui, is one of the two main islands of New Zealand, separated from the larger but much less populous South Island by the Cook Strait. The island's area is , making it the world's 14th-largest ...

. She was a member of the

Ngāti Porou Ngāti Porou is a Māori iwi traditionally located in the East Cape and Gisborne regions of the North Island of New Zealand. Ngāti Porou is affiliated with the 28th Maori Battalion and has the second-largest affiliation of any iwi in New Zealand ...

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 ...

. Mataira had nine children with her husband, Junior Te Ratu Karepa Mataira. She initially studied to be an

art teacher Art is a diverse range of human activity, and resulting product, that involves creative or imaginative talent expressive of technical proficiency, beauty, emotional power, or conceptual ideas. There is no generally agreed definition of wha ...

and educator. She trained at Ardmore Teachers College and taught at Northland College where one of her students was Selwyn Muru, inspiring him to also attend Admore. Mataira spent time on various Pacific Islands. She was in

Fiji Fiji ( , ,; fj, Viti, ; Fiji Hindi: फ़िजी, ''Fijī''), officially the Republic of Fiji, is an island country in Melanesia, part of Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean. It lies about north-northeast of New Zealand. Fiji consists ...

from 1973 to 1975 including working at the

University of South Pacific The University of the South Pacific (USP) is a public research university with locations spread throughout a dozen countries in Oceania. Established in 1968, the university is organised as an intergovernmental organisation and is owned by the gov ...

. She got involved with teacher training and also the study of tapa cloth making. From there she went to Rarotonga as they were reviving tapa. She ran art programmes in

Samoa Samoa, officially the Independent State of Samoa; sm, Sāmoa, and until 1997 known as Western Samoa, is a Polynesian island country consisting of two main islands (Savai'i and Upolu); two smaller, inhabited islands (Manono Island, Manono an ...

Nauru Nauru ( or ; na, Naoero), officially the Republic of Nauru ( na, Repubrikin Naoero) and formerly known as Pleasant Island, is an island country and microstate in Oceania, in the Central Pacific. Its nearest neighbour is Banaba Island in Ki ...

and

Gilbert Islands The Gilbert Islands ( gil, Tungaru;Reilly Ridgell. ''Pacific Nations and Territories: The Islands of Micronesia, Melanesia, and Polynesia.'' 3rd. Ed. Honolulu: Bess Press, 1995. p. 95. formerly Kingsmill or King's-Mill IslandsVery often, this n ...

. Mataira and a friend, fellow teacher

Ngoi Pēwhairangi Te Kumeroa "Ngoingoi" Pēwhairangi (29 December 1921 – 29 January 1985) was a prominent teacher of, and advocate for, Māori language and culture, and the composer of many songs, including ''Poi E''. She spearheaded the Māori Renaissance in ...

, co-founded the Te Ataarangi program as a way to teach and revitalize the

. Mataira was intrigued by the

Silent Way The Silent Way is a language-teaching approach created by Caleb Gattegno that makes extensive use of silence as a teaching method. Gattegno introduced the method in 1963, in his book ''Teaching Foreign Languages in Schools: The Silent Way''. Gatt ...

, a

language teaching method Language pedagogy is the discipline concerned with the theories and techniques of teaching language. It has been described as a type of teaching wherein the teacher draws from his prior knowledge and actual experience in teaching language. The appr ...

created by

Caleb Gattegno Caleb Gattegno (1911–1988) was an Egyptian educator, psychologist, and mathematician. He is considered one of the most influential and prolific mathematics educators of the twentieth century. He is best known for introducing new approaches to ...

, and adapted the method to teach Māori. Her efforts earned her the nickname of the "mother" of the

, according to Dr

Pita Sharples Sir Pita Russell Sharples (born Peter Russell Sharples, 20 July 1941) is a New Zealand Māori academic and politician, who was a co-leader of the Māori Party from 2004 to 2013, and a minister outside Cabinet in the National Party-led governme ...

. She also authored Māori language children's

picture book A picture book combines visual and verbal narratives in a book format, most often aimed at young children. With the narrative told primarily through text, they are distinct from comics, which do so primarily through sequential images. The images ...

s and novels. She became a foundation member of the

Māori Language Commission The Māori Language Commission ( mi, Te Taura Whiri i te Reo Māori) is an autonomous Crown entity in New Zealand set up under the Māori Language Act 1987 with the following functions: # To initiate, develop, co-ordinate, review, advise upon, an ...

in 1987.

Honours and awards

In 1979 Mataira was awarded a Choysa Bursary for Children's Writers. With this she completed four Māori legend picture books. In 1996 the University of Waikato in 1996 gave her an Honorary Doctorate. In the 1998 Queen's Birthday Honours, Mataira was appointed a

Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit The New Zealand Order of Merit is an order of merit in the New Zealand royal honours system. It was established by royal warrant on 30 May 1996 by Elizabeth II, Queen of New Zealand, "for those persons who in any field of endeavour, have ren ...

, for services to the Māori language. One month before her death, she was promoted to

Dame Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit The New Zealand Order of Merit is an order of merit in the New Zealand royal honours system. It was established by royal warrant on 30 May 1996 by Elizabeth II, Queen of New Zealand, "for those persons who in any field of endeavour, have rend ...

, also for services to the Māori language, in the 2011 Queen's Birthday Honours. In 2001 she received Te Tohu Tiketike / Exemplary Award from Creative New Zealand's

Te Waka Toi awards The Te Waka Toi awards are the premier awards in the field of ''ngā toi Māori'' (Māori arts). They have been awarded by Creative New Zealand The Arts Council of New Zealand Toi Aotearoa (Creative New Zealand) is the national arts development ...

. In 2007, Mataira received the Betty Gilderdale Award. In 2009 UNESCO awarded her the Linguapax Award which is ‘an international honour which recognises the preservation and promotion of mother languages as essential vehicles of identity and cultural expression.’ In 2017, Mataira was selected as one of the Royal Society Te Apārangi's "

150 women in 150 words Fifteen or 15 may refer to: *15 (number), the natural number following 14 and preceding 16 *one of the years 15 BC, AD 15, 1915, 2015 Music *Fifteen (band), a punk rock band Albums * ''15'' (Buckcherry album), 2005 * ''15'' (Ani Lorak alb ...

", celebrating the contributions of women to knowledge in New Zealand.

Books

Written in Māori language (te reo Māori)

* ''Te Atea'' (1975) * ''Makorea'' (2000). Ahuru Press. A three-volume historical novel. * ''Makorea'' (2002) * ''Rehua'' (2006) * Picture books in Māori for children – ''Maui and the Big Fish, Marama Taniweto'' and ''Nga Mokonui a Rangi''

Death

Mataira died on 16 July 2011, in

Hamilton Hamilton may refer to: People * Hamilton (name), a common British surname and occasional given name, usually of Scottish origin, including a list of persons with the surname ** The Duke of Hamilton, the premier peer of Scotland ** Lord Hamilt ...

, at the age of 78. She was survived by her nine children, 50 grandchildren, great-grandchildren and one great-great-grandchild. Her tangi, or Māori funeral, was at the Ohinewaiapu Marae in

Rangitukia Rangitukia is a small settlement 10 kilometres south of East Cape in the northeast of New Zealand's North Island. It is near the mouth of the Waiapu River. The settlement is an important place in Ngāti Porou and the founding place for Christian m ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mataira, Katerina 1932 births 2011 deaths Dames Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit Māori activists Māori language revivalists New Zealand educators New Zealand activists New Zealand women activists New Zealand Māori writers New Zealand women novelists New Zealand artists People from Hamilton, New Zealand People from Tokomaru Bay 20th-century New Zealand novelists People educated at St Joseph's Māori Girls' College 20th-century New Zealand women writers Māori-language writers Ngāti Porou people