Eruera Tirikātene

Eruera Tirikātene, of Ngāi Tahu, was born near Kaiapoi in 1895. When the First World War broke out in 1914 he enlisted in the army and served with distinction in France.

After the war he set up a number of profitable businesses, including a dairy farm, a timber mill and a fishing fleet. While visiting Rātana pā in 1921 he became attracted to the teachings of the religious leader and prophet T. W. Rātana, and began living there. He particularly admired Rātana's use of the Treaty of Waitangi as a way of seeking justice for Māori and settling land claims. Rātana's emphasis on land claims particularly appealed to him, as Ngāi Tahu had been actively seeking redress for their claims since the 1840s.

Tirikātene became one of Rātana's key advisers, and led the movement's inner councils. When Rātana decided to win the four Māori Parliamentary seats, Tirikātene was the obvious candidate for Southern Māori. He narrowly missed in the 1928 and 1931 elections. In 1932 he won a Southern Māori by-election caused by the death of the sitting member, Tuiti Makitānara. This was the first parliamentary seat for the Rātana movement.

One of the first steps Tirikātene took was to present a petition seeking statutory recognition of the Treaty of Waitangi. After that he took every opportunity to speak of the Treaty during debates, and frequently reminded the House of Ngāi Tahu's claims.

Another major concern was the poverty of his people, Māori unemployment and discriminatory rates paid to Māori for relief work.

Tirikātene felt that working with Labour was the best way to achieve his aims. He helped build an historic alliance between Labour and Rātana. By 1943 all four Māori seats had been won by Rātana/Labour candidates. In 1936 Tirikātene became chairman of the new Labour government's Māori policy committee. As the historian Angela Ballara notes, his speeches after 1936 reflect his joy and gratitude at the racial equality promoted by Labour's social welfare programme.

When Rātana died in 1939, Tirikātene led the political section of the movement. In 1943 he became member of the Executive Council representing the Māori people, and later chaired a parliamentary committee overseeing the Māori war effort. He tried to retain the Māori war effort organisation as a peacetime body, to give Māori real control over their own affairs. But this aim was only partly achieved with the Māori Social and Economic Advancement Act 1945. He was also disappointed not to be made Māori Affairs Minister.

Tirikātene had more success in settling the Ngāi Tahu claims. A 1944 settlement, which the iwi never considered to be full settlement of their claims, resulted in a £300,000 payment, to be paid in a series of annual £20,000 payments. He was appointed chairman of the Ngāi Tahu Trust Board, set up to manage this fund for the benefit of the tribe. He was also involved in a settlement of the Waikato confiscation claims in 1946.

From 1949 to 1957 Tirikātene was in the Parliamentary Opposition. When Labour won back the Treasury benches between 1957 and 1960 he once again failed in his aim to become Māori Affairs Minister, and in having Waitangi Day declared a public holiday. The most that Prime Minister and Māori Affairs Minister Walter Nash would allow was for 6 February to be "a national day of thanksgiving". It did not become a public holiday until the 1970s. Tirikātene was knighted in 1960. He died in 1967.

Adapted from the DNZB biography by Angela Ballara

• Read the full biography in Te Ara Biographies

 Eruera Tīhema Te Āika Tirikātene

I whānau a Eruera Tirikātene ki te takiwā o Kaiapoi i te tau 1895. Nō Ngāi Tahu ia. I te tau 1914 ka kuhu a ia hei hōia i te Pakanga Tuatahi o te Ao; hau ana te rongo mō tana toa i ngā pakanga ki Wīwī.

Ka mutu te pakanga, ka whakatū ia i ētahi pakihi whai hua, ko ētahi he pāmu miraka kau, he mira kani rākau, he waka hī ika. I tētahi haerenga ki te pā o Rātana i te tau 1921 ka kawea ia e ngā tohutohu a Tahupōtiki Rātana, te kaiārahi whakapono, he matakite. Ko te hūnuku tērā a Tirikātene ki reira noho ai. Ka whakamihi a Tirikātene mō te whakamahi a Rātana i te Tiriti o Waitangi hei huarahi whakaū i ngā tika, whakatau i ngā kerēme whenua a te Māori. Ka tino rata ia ki te hiahia o Rātana kia whakataungia ngā kerēme mō ngā whenua Māori, i te mea i te rapu a Ngāi Tahu i tētahi paremata mō ā rātou kerēme mai anō i te tekau tau atu i 1840.

Ka riro ko Tirikātene tētahi o ngā kaitohutohu matua a Rātana. Nāna ngā whakahaere o te rōpū i taki. Ka puta te whakatau a Rātana kia riro mai ngā tūru Māori e whā i te Pāremata. Kāore he mea i tua atu i a Tirikātene mō te tūru o Te Tai Tonga. Tata tonu ka toa ia i ngā pōti o 1928 me 1931. Ka mate te Mema Māori mō Te Tai Tonga, a Tuiti Makitānara i te tau 1932, ka toa a Tirikātene i te pōti whāiti mō te tūru wātea. Ko ia te Mema Pāremata tuatahi a te rōpū Rātana.

Ko tētahi o ngā mahi tuatahi a Tirikātene, he tāpae i tētahi pitihana ki mua i te Pāremata kia whakamanatia te Tiriti o Waitangi i raro i te ture. Kāore i mimiti ana kōrero ki te Whare mō te Tiriti, tae atu ki ngā kerēme a Ngāi Tahu.

Ko ngā take nui ki a ia ko te rawakore o tōna iwi, te hunga Māori kāore he mahi, me ngā utu iti ki te kaimahi Māori mō ngā mahi whakahirihiri.

Ka whakapono a Tirikātene, mā te mahi tahi me Reipa ka tutuki ōna whāinga. Ka āwhina ia kia tū he kotahitanga a Reipa rāua ko Rātana. Kia taka ki te tau 1943 kua riro i a Reipa/Rātana ngā tūru Māori e whā o te Pāremata. I te tau 1936 ka eke a Tirikātene hei heamana o tētahi komiti a te kāwanatanga Reipa hou mō ngā take Māori. E ai ki te tumu kōrero a Angela Ballara, whai muri i te tau 1936 ka rongo tonu koe i roto i ana kauhau te harikoa me te whakamihi mō te taurite o ngā kaupapa toko i te ora a Reipa ki te Pākehā me te Māori.

I te matenga o Rātana i te tau 1939, ko Tirikātene ka ārahi i ngā take tōrangapū. I te tau 1943 ka kuhu a ia hei mema o te Kaunihera Whiriwhiri hei kanohi mō te iwi Māori. Ko ia te heamana o tētahi komiti o te Pāremata ka whakahaere i ngā mahi a te iwi Māori mō te whawhai. Ko te hiahia o Tirikātene kia noho te rōpū Māori mō te Whawhai mō ngā rā o te āio, kia whai mana ai te iwi Māori ki runga i āna ake whakahaere. Heoi, kāore i eke pū ki runga i tāna i hiahia, tāpae ki te putanga o te Ture Whakapakari i te Ora me te Ōhanga o te iwi Māori o te tau 1945. Ka pōuri ia kāore ia i tohungia hei Minita mō ngā Take Māori.

Hāunga tērā, ka hua ngā mahi a Tirikātene ki te whakatau i ngā kerēme a Ngāi Tahu. I te tau 1944 ka takoto te whakaritenga mō te tahua e 300,000 pāuna, e 20,000 pāuna ka tukua ki te iwi ia tau. Ka tohungia a ia hei heamana o te Poari Kaitiaki o Ngāi Tahu, i whakatūria ki te tiaki i te tahua hei painga mō te iwi. I te tau 1946 i roto anō ia i te whakataunga o ngā kerēme raupatu a ngā iwi o Waikato.

Mai te tau 1949 ki te tau 1957 ko Tirikātene i te Pae Ātete i te wā ko Nāhinara te kāwanatanga. Ka hoki anō a Reipa hei kāwanatanga mō te wā 1957-1960. Kāore tonu a ia i arongia hei Minita mō ngā Take Māori, kāore hoki i eke tana kaupapa kia tū te rā o Waitangi hei rā hararei ā-motu. Paku noa te neke a Waata Naahi (Walter Nash), te Pirimia me te Minita mō ngā Take Māori, i tāna i kī ka tū te rā 6 o Pēpuere hei “rā whakamoemiti puta i te motu”. Kia tae rā anō ki te tekau tau atu i 1970 ka whakataungia te rā o Waitangi hei rā hararei mō te motu katoa. Ka whakawhiwhia a Tirikātene ki te tohu Tā i te tau 1960. Nō te tau 1967 ka mate ia.