Tutekawa "Tu" Wyllie (born 24 October 1954) is a former

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

politician and

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 it ...

player. A

first five-eighth In the game of rugby union, there are 15 players on each team, comprising eight forwards (wearing jerseys numbered 1–8) and seven backs (numbered 9–15). In addition, there may be up to eight replacement players "on the bench", numbered 16– ...

, Wyllie represented

Wellington Wellington ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the second-largest city in New Zealand by metr ...

at a provincial level, and played one match for the New Zealand national side, the

All Blacks The New Zealand national rugby union team, commonly known as the All Blacks ( mi, Ōpango), represents New Zealand in men's international rugby union, which is considered the country's national sport. The team won the Rugby World Cup in 1987, ...

, in 1980. He was the New Zealand First Member of Parliament for

Te Tai Tonga Te Tai Tonga is a New Zealand parliamentary Māori electorate, returning one Member of Parliament to the New Zealand House of Representatives. It was established for the 1996 general election, replacing Southern Maori. The current MP for Te T ...

from 1996 to 1999.

Early life

Born in Manutuke, Wyllie affiliates to the Ngāi Tāmanuhiri, Ngāti Ruapani and

Rongowhakaata Rongowhakaata is a Māori '' iwi'' of the Gisborne region of New Zealand. Hapū and marae There are three primary ''hapū'' (subtribes) of Rongowhakaata today: Ngati Kaipoho, Ngai Tawhiri and Ngati Maru. Ngāti Kaipoho Ngāti Kaipoho descend f ...

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, ...

. He was educated at Gisborne Boys' High School where he played rugby for the 1st XV. He then went to

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 ...

, where he studied law. He worked as a bus driver, court clerk, teacher trainee and as a bureaucrat in the Ministry of Education, Iwi Transition Agency and the Department of Health.

Rugby career

While at Victoria, Wyllie played rugby league for New Zealand Universities between 1975 and 1977. He then played representative rugby union for

from 1978 to 1983 and New Zealand Māori from 1979 to 1982. In the off-seasons he played overseas, in Ireland, the United States, Germany and France. His sole appearance for the

came in 1980, when he played against the touring Fijian side, scoring a try. The game was not recognized as a full international.

Member of Parliament

Wyllie represented

as a member of parliament from 1996 to 1999 for the New Zealand First Party. He defeated 29-year parliamentary veteran

Whetu Tirikatene-Sullivan Tini "Whetu" Marama Tirikatene-Sullivan (9 January 1932 – 20 July 2011) was a New Zealand politician. She was an MP from 1967 to 1996, representing the Labour Party, and was New Zealand’s first Māori woman cabinet minister. At the time o ...

with a majority of 285 votes enabling New Zealand First to capture all five

Māori electorates In New Zealand politics, Māori electorates, colloquially known as the Māori seats, are a special category of electorate that give reserved positions to representatives of Māori in the New Zealand Parliament. Every area in New Zealand is ...

in the 1996 election (including Te Tai Tonga). When the Tight five led by

Tau Henare Raymond Tau Henare (born 29 September 1960) is a former New Zealand Māori parliamentarian. In representing three different political parties in parliament—New Zealand First, Mauri Pacific and the National Party—Henare served as a Member o ...

splintered from New Zealand First and created the

Mauri Pacific Mauri Pacific () was a short-lived political party in New Zealand. It was formed in 1998 by five former members of the New Zealand First party. It has often been described as a Māori party. Officially, Mauri Pacific was a multiculturalist par ...

party, Wyllie chose to remain loyal to the party core. During the 1999 election he sought re-election as MP for Te Tai Tonga, but chose not to stand on the party list. He was defeated by Mahara Okeroa of the Labour Party by 4522 votes. During his term in Parliament, Wyllie also played for the parliamentary rugby team.

Post Parliamentary career

Protest against the sale of Young Nicks head

Following his defeat in the 1999 election Wyllie returned to Gisborne in an effort to assist Ngai Tamanuhiri to prevent the sale of Young Nick's Head (Te Kuri), a place of historical, and spiritual significance to local Maori. Wyllie stated that "It is the absolute jewel in the crown because Young Nick’s Head, or Te Kuri as we know it, is our equivalent to Hikurangi for Ngati Porou and Aorangi or Aoraki for Ngāi Tahu. It is our mountain, it is what identifies us as an iwi and we have some real issues about what’s going to happen to it in the future.". Ngai Tamanuhri tribal members led by Wyllie conducted a protest march and pitched their tents on the grounds of

New Zealand Parliament The New Zealand Parliament ( mi, Pāremata Aotearoa) is the unicameral legislature of New Zealand, consisting of the King of New Zealand (King-in-Parliament) and the New Zealand House of Representatives. The King is usually represented by hi ...

. He later lost his mandate as iwi spokesperson after he filed a judicial application to overturn Michael Cullen's decision to approve the sale of the landmark.New Zealand herald, (2002, August, 22),Sacked by iwi, Wyllie keeps up fight for site,retrieved from http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=2351310 Young Nicks Head was consequently sold to American millionaire John Griffin.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wyllie, Tu 1954 births Living people Ngāi Tāmanuhiri people Rongowhakaata people Ngāti Ruapani people People educated at Gisborne Boys' High School Māori All Blacks players New Zealand international rugby union players New Zealand sportsperson-politicians Members of the New Zealand House of Representatives New Zealand First MPs New Zealand MPs for Māori electorates Victoria University of Wellington alumni 21st-century New Zealand politicians Halbert-Kohere family Rugby union fly-halves Rugby union players from the Gisborne Region