Titewhai Harawira

Māoridom is today mourning the loss of matriarch Titewhai Harawira who has died aged 90. The proud Wāhine toa of a close-knit family that was heavily ...

She became a member of the protest group Ngā Tamatoa in the early 1970s and campaigned hard, often against bitter criticism, for the Māori language. Titewhai Harawira was also active in the Māori Women’s Welfare League, especially its campaign to improve Maori housing. The couple were active in local schools and were founding members of the pioneering Hoani Waititi urban marae in West Auckland. “I was privileged to have attended her 90th birthday event (which had been put of in October last year. After training as a nurse, she married John Harawira in 1952, settling in Avondale, Auckland. They had eight children and adopted another three. Moe mai ra e te whaea e te mareikura e te Tōtara i te wao nui a Tāne! I was looking forward to serving you breakfast again next week at Waitangi, as depicted in this photo from Waitangi Day breakfast in 2019. Kua mate a Titewhai Harawira. She will be sorely missed.” Ti loved Jacinda immensely and would have been shattered with her resignation.” It is they who will carry on Ti’s mahi.”

Renowned activist Titewhai​ Harawira has died, aged 90.

The passing of the Treaty of Waitangi Act on October 10, 1975, set up the tribunal. After training as a nurse, she married Māori Batallion veteran John Puriri Harawira in 1952, and chose to settle in the west Auckland suburb of Avondale. Three years later, it was expanded to Māori Language Week. / Pānuitia tēnei i te reo Māori me te reo Pākehā ki [konei](http://www.stuff.co.nz/pou-tiaki/te-reo-maori/300791749/moe-mai-r-titewhai-harawira). In her later years, Harawira would welcome the prime minister of the day on to Te Tii Marae for Waitangi Day commemorations, from John Key to Jacinda Ardern. She stood beside prime ministers and princes. The land march contributed to the establishment of the Waitangi Tribunal to investigate Treaty of Waitangi breaches. Titewhai Harawira also organised and helped lead the 1975 land hīkoi from Te Hāpua, Northland, to Wellington to protest the alienation of Māori land, famously led by Dame Whina Cooper. [John Key](https://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/253697/Titewhai-Harawira-escorts-Key-on-to-marae), Jacinda Ardern and Prince Charles (as he was then), to welcome them to Te Tii Marae and the Waitangi Treaty Grounds. [Māori Language Petition](https://www.stuff.co.nz/pou-tiaki/129718408/like-winning-an-olympic-gold-rawiri-paratene-50-years-on-from-mori-language-petition), seeking to have te reo Māori taught in schools. The petition was delivered to Parliament with the support of kaumātua, and September 14, 1972, was declared Māori Language Day. She was a member of Ngā Tamatoa, a young activist group which formed in the 1970s to draw attention to Māori rights, land and language loss.

Renowned activist, civil rights campaigner and matriarch Titewhai Harawira has died aged 90. Former MP Hone Harawira, one of her eight sons, shared the news ...

She had become synonymous with Waitangi Day commemorations, often accompanying Prime Ministers onto Te Whare Rūnanga.

"But all we were doing was putting out what our people were talking about in the whare, in the tūpuna whare, up and down the country. “Most of us in Ngā Tamatoa who were pushing for more support for te reo Māori didn’t speak the language ourselves. Reflecting the concern about our reo.

Radio Waatea is Aucklands' only Māori radio station that provides an extensive bi-lingual broadcast to its listeners. Based at Nga Whare Waatea marae in Mangere ...

While widely known for her role in Waitangi Day commemorations, evolving from protest leader to the chaperone of prime ministers and governors general, she cut ...

She was the leading activist leader here in Auckland along with Uncle Syd and Auntie Hana Jackson. “It was just wonderful what she did in the communities in terms of challenging health establishments and she got into a bit of trouble here and there as you do but she always fought against the system. T was hated by a lot of the mainstream media.

Mrs Harawira was at the forefront of Māori advocacy for more than half a century, not only through protests like the Māori Land March, Te Matakite and the ...

Titiwhai Harawira will be taken to Hoani Marae Thursday before travelling to Te Tai Tokerau at the end of the week. He said not ever one agreed with Titiwhai Harawira but no one doubted her passion, sincerity and commitment to Māori, particularly urban Māori. “There will be a lot of kiwis who didn’t agree with Titewhai Harawira but no one could doubt her passion and her sincerity and her commitment to Māori, particularly to urban Maori,” he says.

The absence of the face of Waitangi, Titewhai Harawira, will be felt this year, Māori leaders say.

John Miller captured these three wāhine toa standing together in 1985, these three [pillars who had and continue to inspire generations of people](https://www.stuff.co.nz/waikato-times/news/300663769/raglan-airfield-land-to-be-returned-to-mori-owners-after-almost-90-years) to stand up for Te Tiriti and for Māori. “My favourite memories of Titewhai at Waitangi all revolve around the same thing – when she arrived, word would make its way through the staff, and we all seemed to stop for a moment to acknowledge her presence. “Her kids grew up in our hood, I went to school with a couple of them. A lot of people don’t appreciate that she went through struggle street even there.” She never lost sight of the psychological impact of the purpose.” Very Shakespeare, very theatrical in the way she dressed and her āhua (character). We must acknowledge all of Ngāti Hau, Ngāti Wai, and Ngāti Hine – the wider whānau, and the mourning whānau too.” She set out to make change and she changed our world. “Moe mai rā, e te whaea, e te māreikura, e te tōtara i te wao nui a Tāne! It made me think, ‘How can she be so critical of politicians and be a person to pamper them?’ She fought for what she thought would progress Ngāpuhi in the first instance but also Māori…” She was a fighter.

Prime Minister Chris Hipkins has delivered a heart-felt message from Jacinda Ardern to Māori matriarch Titewhai Harawira, who died yesterday aged 90.

She became a member of the protest group Ngā Tamatoa in the early 1970s and campaigned hard, often against bitter criticism, for the Māori language. The couple were active in local schools and were founding members of the pioneering Hoani Waititi urban marae in West Auckland. Titewhai Harawira was also active in the Māori Women’s Welfare League, especially its campaign to improve Maori housing. I knew Titewhai had my hand and I knew it would be alright. After training as a nurse, she married John Harawira in 1952, settling in Avondale, Auckland. “I was standing to be bought on as the Prime Minister, and I felt lace in my hand.

Titewhai Harawira, Ngāpuhi's best-known matriarch and a lifelong activist for Māori rights, has died at her home in Auckland, aged 90.

“She was vilified as a woman but that never got in her way of fighting for the rights of tangata whenua. She was also quite proper, the sort of person that drank tea from bone china.” She was staunch and true to her cause. “Titewhai was an absolute blunt instrument when she needed to be. She was very proud to be Māori.” She differentiated between politics and people.” She was not a personality to be ignored. We are talking with (local hapū) Ngāti Rahiri and Ngāti Kawa about what we can do to honour Titewhai. “Everyone is going to miss her dearly, for different reasons. John Harawira died in 1977 and she brought up their extended family on her own. “We’ve got radio today, we’ve got television today, we’ve got fishing rights today, we’ve got land rights today, we’ve got a Māori Party today. Because a few of us have had the courage to get up there and push the boundaries for the last 50 years and I don’t apologise for that to anybody then or now,” she said in an interview with RNZ in 2009.