Raymond Richard Waru (born 1952) is a New Zealand

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 ...

radio and television director and producer.

Early life

Waru spent his childhood in

Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The List of New Zealand urban areas by population, most populous urban area in the country and the List of cities in Oceania by po ...

. He was educated at St Peter's College.

Career

Waru obtained positions in radio and television from the 1970s. In 1980, he headed the original

Television New Zealand , type = Crown entity , industry = Broadcast television , num_locations = New Zealand , location = Auckland, New Zealand , area_served = Nationally (New Zealand) and some Pacific Island nations such as the Cook Islands, Fiji, and the Solom ...

production unit. Waru directed a broad range of Māori programmes, including the first ever full

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 ...

drama project, ''Te Ohaki a Nihe'', and items on the Te Māori exhibition. In the 1980s Waru produced and directed a revolutionary documentary series, ''The Natural World of the Māori'', various film and television productions in New Zealand and in Australia, as well as an

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production under the

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. In the 1980s he was appointed as chief executive of the Aotearoa Māori Radio Trust, charged with the development of a national Māori radio system. In the 1990s Waru was co-producer of the major history series, '' Our People, Our Century'', a winner at the 2000

New Zealand Film and TV Awards New Zealand film and television awards have gone by many different names and have been organised by different industry groups. As of 2017, New Zealand has relaunched a standalone New Zealand Television Awards after a five-year hiatus. The film awar ...

, and he produced Toro Mai, a 25-part serial drama in te reo. In 2005 Waru co-produced the New Zealand historical series, '' Frontier of Dreams, The Story of New Zealand'' In the 2006 Queen's Birthday Honours, Waru was appointed a

Member 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 radio and television. In 2012 Waru published "Secrets & Treasures" which consists of "stories told through the objects at

Archives New Zealand Archives New Zealand (Māori: ''Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga'') is New Zealand's national archive and the official guardian of its public archives. As the government's recordkeeping authority, it administers the Public Records Act 2005 and ...

"Ray Waru, ''Secrets & treasures : our stories told through the objects at Archives New Zealand'', Random House, Glenfield, Auckland, 2012 (). and which "delves into the archives to tell a very human story of New Zealand, a story that involves love, death, war, immigration, disaster, protest, defiance, censorship and hokey pokey".''Secrets and treasures'', Back cover.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Waru, Ray 1952 births Living people People from Auckland People educated at St Peter's College, Auckland New Zealand Māori people New Zealand television directors New Zealand television producers New Zealand Māori broadcasters Members of the New Zealand Order of Merit