Tui Uru (20 January 1926 – 26 April 2013) was a New Zealand opera singer and broadcaster. She was the first

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 ...

television announcer.

Early life and family

Born in Wellington on 20 January 1926, Uru affiliated to the Ngāi Tūāhuriri hapū of Ngāi Tahu. She was the daughter of the Reform Party Member of Parliament for

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

Henare Whakatau Uru Henare Whakatau Uru (1872 – 7 March 1929) was a New Zealand politician. He was the Reform Party Member of Parliament for Southern Maori from 1922 to 1928. Early life and family Uru was born at Kaiapoi in 1872. His father was Hoani Uru, a far ...

, and his second wife, Gladys Constance Mary Uru (née Rogers), who was Australian from Albury, New South Wales. Uru's father died in 1929 when she was three years old, and she was educated at Ouruhia School and

Christchurch Girls' High School Christchurch Girls' High School in Christchurch, New Zealand, was established in 1877 and is the second oldest girls-only secondary school in the country, after Otago Girls' High School. History Christchurch Girls' High School was established i ...

. Uru took singing lessons, attaining the award of Licentiate of the Royal Schools of Music. In 1944, her brother, Henare Whakatau "K" Uru, a

pilot officer Pilot officer (Plt Off officially in the RAF; in the RAAF and RNZAF; formerly P/O in all services, and still often used in the RAF) is the lowest commissioned rank in the Royal Air Force and the air forces of many other Commonwealth countri ...

in the

Royal New Zealand Air Force The Royal New Zealand Air Force (RNZAF) ( mi, Te Tauaarangi o Aotearoa, "The Warriors of the Sky of New Zealand"; previously ', "War Party of the Blue") is the aerial service branch of the New Zealand Defence Force. It was formed from New Zeala ...

, was killed on active service. Tui Uru was the great-aunt of rowers

Jade Jade is a mineral used as jewellery or for ornaments. It is typically green, although may be yellow or white. Jade can refer to either of two different silicate minerals: nephrite (a silicate of calcium and magnesium in the amphibole group of ...

and

Storm Uru Storm Uru (born 14 February 1985) is a New Zealand rower. He is from Ngāi Tahu tribe. Uru was born in 1985 in Invercargill. His younger brother, Jade Uru, is also a rower. The broadcaster Tui Uru (1926–2013) was their great-aunt. Tui Uru's ...

Career

Singing

From at least 1943, Uru was singing publicly. That year she appeared in a concert at the Civic Theatre in Christchurch, where she gave a solo performance of "

Beautiful Isle of Somewhere "Beautiful Isle of Somewhere" is a song with words by Jessie Brown Pounds and music by John Sylvester Fearis, written in 1897. The song gained huge popularity when it was used in William McKinley's funeral. It was subsequently a staple at funera ...

". A

soprano A soprano () is a type of classical female singing voice and has the highest vocal range of all voice types. The soprano's vocal range (using scientific pitch notation) is from approximately middle C (C4) = 261 Hz to "high A" (A5) = 880&n ...

, Uru travelled to Australia to compete in 15 events at the 1953 City of Sydney Eisteddfod. In all, she won 11 categories, including the section for singing folk songs of any country, and was second in a further two sections. She won the Dulcie Starkey Memorial Trophy for the overall winner of the adult ballad competitions. The judge, Gregory Stroud, described Uru as having "a voice of fine quality" and a "charming personality". She also competed in ''The Sun'' aria contest in Ballarat in 1953, finishing fourth equal. In 1955, Uru went to London, where she studied singing with Roy Henderson and

Dawson Freer Dawson may refer to: People and fictional characters *Dawson (surname), including a list of people and fictional characters with the name *Dawson (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters with the name Places Antarctica ...

, and funded her studies by working as a telephonist. She performed in a concert at Wigmore Hall and as a soloist at Westminster Central Hall. In 1964, Uru returned to New Zealand, and was described at that time as a contralto.

Broadcasting

Uru applied for a job as a radio announcer with the

New Zealand Broadcasting Service Radio New Zealand ( mi, Te Reo Irirangi o Aotearoa), commonly known as Radio NZ or simply RNZ, is a New Zealand public-service radio broadcaster and Crown entity that was established under the Radio New Zealand Act 1995. It operates news and cu ...

in 1945, and was appointed to a position in Christchurch in 1950. She covered the 1953–54 royal tour of New Zealand. After her return to New Zealand from London, Uru joined

New Zealand Broadcasting The New Zealand Broadcasting Corporation (NZBC) was a publicly owned company of the New Zealand Government founded in 1962. The Broadcasting Act 1976 then reformed NZBC as the Broadcasting Corporation of New Zealand (BCNZ). The corporation was ...

's (NZBC) Christchurch television station, CHTV3, as a continuity announcer, becoming the first Māori television presenter in October 1964. After working briefly in Palmerston North, Uru transferred to Dunedin, where she continued working as a radio presenter on the YA and YC stations, and as a continuity announcer for the local NZBC television station, DNTV2. She later moved to private radio station Radio Otago 4XO.

Later life and death

Uru lived in retirement in Dunedin. She died there on 26 April 2013, and was buried at Dunedin Cemetery.

References