Moe mai rā, Titewhai Harawira
Wednesday, 25 January 2023
Renowned activist Titewhai Harawira has died.
Read this story in te reo Māori and English here. / Pānuitia tēnei i te reo Māori me te reo Pākehā ki konei.
Hone Harawira, the politician and one of her eight children, announced her passing in the early hours of Wednesday morning.
Titewhai Harawira was 90 years old. She celebrated her birthday in style last year, with hundreds attending to mark her ninth decade.
A mother of eight, Titewhai Harawira was also grandmother to 70 mokopuna and about 25 great-grandchildren, said her grandson Tūmamao Harawira.
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She is from Ngāti Hau, Ngāti Wai and Ngāti Hine.
Her activism gained her a national reputation, making her one of the most familiar faces at Waitangi each year.
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.
At Waitangi, during annual commemorations, she was known both for challenging politicians but also for guiding them through proceedings. She stood beside prime ministers and princes.
In the past few years, Titewhai Harawira had stood beside prime ministers John Key, Jacinda Ardern and Prince Charles (as he was then), to welcome them to Te Tii Marae and the Waitangi Treaty Grounds.
A legacy of activism
Titewhai Te Huia Hinewhare Harawirawas born in Whakapara, Northland, in 1932. 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.
The couple went on to have eight children, including politician and social activist Hone, and anti-violence campaigner Hinewhare.
As part of Ngā Tamatoa, Titewhai helped gather 30,000 signatures from across Aotearoa in 1972 for the Māori 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. Three years later, it was expanded to Māori Language Week.
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.
The march saw around 5000 people from across Aotearoa participate and a petition signed by over 60,000 presented to Parliament.
The land march contributed to the establishment of the Waitangi Tribunal to investigate Treaty of Waitangi breaches. The passing of the Treaty of Waitangi Act on October 10, 1975, set up the tribunal.
In 1990, she travelled to the Netherlands to ask the Dutch government to reclaim the name 'New Zealand' so Aotearoa could be used instead.
Harawira was a staunch supporter of wāhine Māori rights.
Famously, during the 1998 Waitangi Day celebrations, Labour leader Helen Clark was due to speak at Te Tii in her role as leader of the Opposition – but was prevented by Harawira, who saw a double standard in letting a Pākehā woman give an address when wāhine Māori were not allowed to speak on the marae.
“You let Helen Clark speak but not Māori women,” Harawira said.
The ensuing argument saw Clark cry on national television, but elevated the debate about wāhine not speaking on marae.
The convention stayed in place at Te Tii until 2014, when former Green Party co-leader Metiria Turei was given permission to speak.
Aside from Turei and later Jacinda Ardern, female politicians have needed males to speak on their behalf at Te Tii.
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.