Rangimārie Te Turuki Arikirangi Rose Pere (25 July 1937 – 13 December 2020) was a New Zealand educationalist, spiritual leader,

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 ...

advocate, academic and conservationist. Of

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 ...

descent, she affiliated with the

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, ...

Ngāi Tūhoe Ngāi Tūhoe (), often known simply as Tūhoe, is a Māori iwi of New Zealand. It takes its name from an ancestral figure, Tūhoe-pōtiki. ''Tūhoe'' is a Māori-language word meaning "steep" or "high noon". Tūhoe people also bear the sobriquet ...

Ngāti Ruapani Ngāti Ruapani or Ngāti Ruapani ki Waikaremoana is a Māori iwi of northern Hawke's Bay and the southern Gisborne District in New Zealand. They take their name from the ancestor Ruapani, who lived at the Popoia pā on the Waipaoa River near W ...

and

Ngāti Kahungunu Ngāti Kahungunu is a Māori iwi located along the eastern coast of the North Island of New Zealand. The iwi is traditionally centred in the Hawke's Bay and Wairārapa regions. The tribe is organised into six geographical and administrative ...

. Her influences spread throughout New Zealand in education and well-being and she was renowned on the international stage as an expert in indigenous knowledge.

Biography

Pere was born in Ruatahuna in the Bay of Plenty on 25 July 1937. For her first seven years she lived with her maternal grandparents southeast of Waikaremoana. From 1944 she attended Kokako Native School. Between 1956 and 1957 she went to Wellington Teachers' College and obtained a New Zealand Teacher's Certificate. For 33 years she worked in education including as a teacher and as a schools inspector for the

Ministry of Education An education ministry is a national or subnational government agency politically responsible for education. Various other names are commonly used to identify such agencies, such as Ministry of Education, Department of Education, and Ministry of Pub ...

. She initiated total-immersion classes for children after they had come out of kōhanga reo (Māori language immersion pre-school). Her educational influence included nursing "with holistic ways of looking at health". Pere represented New Zealand in 1975 at the United Nations International Women's Year Conference in Mexico City. In the 1980s and 1990s Pere published books and curriculum. Her books ''Ako'' and ''Te Wheke'' have had lasting impact. In later years Pere worked with many people sharing her knowledge about plants, living with nature, and healing. A well-known saying of Pere's is: "''He atua, he tangata''. We are both beautifully divine and beautifully human."

Honours and awards

In 1972, Pere was named as Young Maori Woman of the Year. She was honoured by the Cherokee Nation in 1984 as White Eagle Medicine Woman Of Peace, and in 1990 she received the New Zealand 1990 Commemoration Medal for her contribution to New Zealand education. In the 1996 New Year Honours, Pere was appointed a

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 ...

, for services to Māori education. Later in 1996, she was conferred with an honorary doctorate in literature by

Victoria University of Wellington Victoria University of Wellington ( mi, Te Herenga Waka) is a university in Wellington, New Zealand. It was established in 1897 by Act of Parliament, and was a constituent college of the University of New Zealand. The university is well kno ...

Death

Pere died peacefully at her home in Waikaremoana on 13 December 2020. She was buried next to her husband Joseph Pere at Rongopai Marae, near Gisborne. Her three-day tangi across three

marae A ' (in New Zealand Māori, Cook Islands Māori, Tahitian), ' (in Tongan), ' (in Marquesan) or ' (in Samoan) is a communal or sacred place that serves religious and social purposes in Polynesian societies. In all these languages, the term a ...

from

Wairoa Wairoa is a town and territorial authority district in New Zealand's North Island. The town is the northernmost in the Hawke's Bay region, and is located on the northern shore of Hawke Bay at the mouth of the Wairoa River and to the west o ...

to Tūranga-Nui-a-Kiwa (Gisborne) was covered on national television by the

Māori TV 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 ...

news programme, ''Te Ao''.

Selected works

* ''Ako: Concepts and learning in the Maori tradition'' (1982) University of Waikato, Dept. of Sociology * ''Oxford Maori picture dictionary = He pukapuka kupuāhua Maori'', University of Waikato, co-author Peter Cleave. Dept. of Sociology. 4 editions published between 1978 and 1997 in English. Picture dictionary which illustrates over 3,000 Maori words * ''Te wheke : a celebration of infinite wisdom'', C. Gunderson. 8 editions published between 1991 and 2009 in English * ''Te Whariki : he whariki matauranga mo nga mokopuna o Aotearoa = national early childhood curriculum guidelines in New Zealand'' (1992)

Tamati Reedy Sir Tamati Muturangi Reedy (born 16 July 1936) is a New Zealand Māori academic and former public servant and rugby union player. He served as secretary of the Department of Maori Affairs between 1983 and 1989, during which time he was involve ...

; Tilly Reedy; Tuki Nepe; Rangimarie Rose Pere; Vapi Kupenga; *''The Te Kohanga Reo National Trust : review of trust operations''

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pere, Rose 1937 births 2020 deaths Ngāi Tūhoe people Ngāti Ruapani people Ngāti Kahungunu people New Zealand Māori schoolteachers New Zealand Māori writers New Zealand Māori women 20th-century New Zealand women writers People from the Bay of Plenty Region New Zealand Commanders of the Order of the British Empire Victoria University of Wellington alumni New Zealand conservationists