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

Māori language Māori (; endonym: 'the Māori language', commonly shortened to ) is an Eastern Polynesian languages, Eastern Polynesian language and the language of the Māori people, the indigenous population of mainland New Zealand. The southernmost membe ...

proponent, educator,

intellectual An intellectual is a person who engages in critical thinking, research, and Human self-reflection, reflection about the nature of reality, especially the nature of society and proposed solutions for its normative problems. Coming from the wor ...

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

Kura Kaupapa Māori Kura may refer to: Places * Kura, Iran (disambiguation) * Kura Island, Azerbaijan * Kura, Nigeria, a Local Government Area of Kano State * Kura (South Caucasus river), a river in Turkey, Georgia, and Azerbaijan * Kura (Russia), a river in R ...

in New Zealand.

Biography

Mataira was born in 1932 in Tokomaru Bay, on the east coast of the

North Island The North Island ( , 'the fish of Māui', historically New Ulster) is one of the two main islands of New Zealand, islands of New Zealand, separated from the larger but less populous South Island by Cook Strait. With an area of , it is the List ...

. 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. It has the second-largest affiliation of any iwi, behind Ngāpuhi, with an estimated 102,480 people according to the ...

iwi Iwi () are the largest social units in New Zealand Māori society. In Māori, roughly means or , and is often translated as "tribe". The word is both singular and plural in the Māori language, and is typically pluralised as such in English. ...

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

art teacher Visual arts education is the area of learning that is based upon the kind of art that one can see, visual arts—drawing, painting, sculpture, printmaking, and design in jewelry, pottery, weaving, fabrics, etc. and design applied to more practic ...

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, 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 of an archipelago of more than 330 islands—of which about ...

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 and known until 1997 as Western Samoa, is an island country in Polynesia, part of Oceania, in the South Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main islands (Savai'i and Upolu), two smaller, inhabited ...

Nauru Nauru, officially the Republic of Nauru, formerly known as Pleasant Island, is an island country and microstate in the South Pacific Ocean. It lies within the Micronesia subregion of Oceania, with its nearest neighbour being Banaba (part of ...

and

Gilbert Islands The Gilbert Islands (;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 name applied o ...

. 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 programme as a way to teach and revitalize the

. Mataira was intrigued by the Silent Way, a language teaching method created by Caleb Gattegno, and adapted the method to teach Māori. In 1980 she completed a master's thesis on the silent way, at the University of Waikato. Her efforts earned her the nickname of the "mother" of the

, according to Dr Pita Sharples. 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 ima ...

s and novels. She became a foundation member of the

Māori Language Commission 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 Co ...

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 ...

, 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 ...

, also for services to the Māori language, in the

2011 Queen's Birthday Honours The Birthday Honours 2011 for the Commonwealth realms were announced on 11 June 2011 in the United Kingdom,United Kingdom: New Zealand,Creative New Zealand's Te Waka Toi awards. 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 The "150 women in 150 words" project was undertaken by the Royal Society Te Apārangi and published during their 150th anniversary celebrations in 2017. The aim of the project was "celebrating women's contributions to expanding knowledge in New Z ...

", 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: * Alexander Hamilton (1755/1757–1804), first U.S. Secretary of the Treasury and one of the Founding Fathers of the United States * ''Hamilton'' (musical), a 2015 Broadway musical by Lin-Manuel Miranda ** ''Hamilton'' (al ...

, 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. One of Mataira's grandchildren is the physicist Ratu Mataira.

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 women educators New Zealand activists New Zealand women activists New Zealand Māori writers New Zealand women novelists New Zealand artists Writers 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 University of Waikato alumni