Maureen Te Rangi Rere I Waho Waaka (née Kingi, 5 October 1942 – 1 July 2013) was Miss New Zealand 1962, the second

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 ...

woman to win the title. She later became a local-body politician, serving on the

Rotorua District Council Rotorua Lakes District or Rotorua District is a territorial authority district in the North Island of New Zealand. It has one urban area of significant size, the city of Rotorua. The district is governed by Rotorua Lakes Council, which is headq ...

for 18 years. Of Māori descent, she identified with the

Ngāti Tūwharetoa Ngāti Tūwharetoa is an iwi descended from Ngātoro-i-rangi, the priest who navigated the Arawa canoe to New Zealand. The Tūwharetoa region extends from Te Awa o te Atua (Tarawera River) at Matatā across the central plateau of the North Isla ...

and

Ngāti Whakaue Ngāti Whakaue is a Māori iwi, of the Te Arawa confederation of New Zealand. The tribe lives in the Rotorua district and descends from the Arawa waka. The Ngāti Whakaue village Ōhinemutu is within the township of Rotorua. Ngāti Whakaue tra ...

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, an ...

Early life and education

Waaka was born in 1942. Her father was an interpreter for the Māori Affairs Department in Rotorua and she was a niece of

Hepi Te Heuheu VII Hepi or HEPI may refer to: * Hepi (name) * Hepi TV, a Serbian television network * Higher Education Price Index {{Disambig ...

. She was raised at

Ohinemutu Ohinemutu or Ōhinemutu is a suburb in Rotorua, New Zealand. It includes a living Māori village and the original settlement of Rotorua. Demographics The statistical area of Kuirau, which corresponds to Ohinemutu, covers and had an estimated p ...

where she came under the influence of Guide Rangi. She attended Rotorua High School, where in her final year she was a prefect and received the Maori Purposes Fund Prize for being the top Māori girl at the school. After she left school, she studied radiography at

Auckland Hospital Auckland City Hospital is a public hospital located in Grafton, Auckland, New Zealand. It is the largest hospital in New Zealand,Largest hospital in New Zealand...' - News-Medical.Net, Tuesday 29 June 2004 as well as one of the oldest medical fac ...

Miss New Zealand

Waaka was crowned Miss New Zealand in 1962, becoming the second Māori woman to win the title (after

Moana Manley Moana Nui-a-Kiwa Hinemoa Whaanga (née Manley; 28 October 1935 – 15 November 2017) was a New Zealand swimmer and beauty pageant winner. In 1954, she became the first Māori to win the Miss New Zealand title. Early life and family Of Te Araw ...

in 1954). She went on to represent New Zealand at the

Miss International Miss International (''Miss International Beauty'' or ''The International Beauty Pageant'') is a Japan-based international beauty pageant organized by the International Culture Association. First held in 1960, it is the fourth largest pageant i ...

and

Miss World Miss World is the oldest existing international beauty pageant. It was created in the United Kingdom by Eric Morley in 1951. Since his death in 2000, Morley's widow, Julia Morley, has co-chaired the pageant. Along with Miss Universe, Miss Int ...

pageants later that year, and was the first Māori woman to compete at Miss World. In June 1963 she married John Waaka at Ohinemutu. The wedding had 500 guests and was reported on in magazine ''

Te Ao Hou / The New World ''Te Ao Hou / The New World'' was a quarterly magazine published in New Zealand from 1952 to 1975. It was published by the Māori Affairs Department and printed by Pegasus Press. It was bilingual, with articles in both English and Māori, and c ...

''. He had proposed to her the night before her trip to London for the Miss World pageant in 1963. Waaka and her husband had five children together. They also led the Rotorua International Māori Entertainers performance group for many years, performing Māori songs and poi in concerts at hotels. She also returned to her radiography studies, and qualified in 1974.

Political career

Waaka was first elected to the Rotorua District Council in 1989, serving one three-year term. She was re-elected in 1998 and continued to serve until her death in 2013. She also was a member of the

Lakes District Health Board The Lakes District Health Board (Lakes DHB) was a district health board that provided healthcare to the area covered by Taupō and Rotorua districts in New Zealand. In July 2022, the Lakes DHB was merged into the national health service Te Whatu ...

for nine years and served as chair of the Māori Tourism Council. She was known as an anti-gambling campaigner, and successfully campaigned against the opening of a casino in Rotorua in 2002. At the 2002 general election Waaka was a list candidate for the Labour Party. She was ranked at number 73 on the Labour list and consequently was not elected. Waaka was awarded the

New Zealand 1990 Commemoration Medal The New Zealand 1990 Commemoration Medal was a commemorative medal awarded in New Zealand in 1990 to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi, and was awarded to approximately 3,000 people. Background The New Zea ...

. In the 2001 Queen's Birthday Honours, she 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 tourism and the community. In 2005, she was appointed as a

justice of the peace A justice of the peace (JP) is a judicial officer of a lower or ''puisne'' court, elected or appointed by means of a commission ( letters patent) to keep the peace. In past centuries the term commissioner of the peace was often used with the sa ...

Death

Waaka suffered a

stroke A stroke is a medical condition in which poor blood flow to the brain causes cell death. There are two main types of stroke: ischemic, due to lack of blood flow, and hemorrhagic, due to bleeding. Both cause parts of the brain to stop functionin ...

on 16 June 2013 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 ...

. She died in Rotorua of complications two weeks later, on 1 July 2013. Her tangi was held at

Te Papaiouru Marae Te Papaiouru is a marae at Ohinemutu, Rotorua, New Zealand. It is the home marae of the Ngāti Whakaue subtribes Ngāti Tae-o-Tū and Ngāti Tūnohopū. The marae's carved wharenui (meeting house), Tamatekapua, is named after Tama-te-kapua, the chi ...

, Ohinemutu.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Waaka, Maureen 1942 births 2013 deaths Ngāti Whakaue people Ngāti Tūwharetoa people Miss New Zealand winners Miss International 1962 delegates Miss World 1962 delegates Members of the New Zealand Order of Merit New Zealand justices of the peace Unsuccessful candidates in the 2002 New Zealand general election 20th-century New Zealand women politicians 20th-century New Zealand politicians New Zealand Labour Party politicians Māori politicians Lakes District Health Board members People educated at Rotorua Girls' High School