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Iriaka Ratana

The first Māori woman to be elected to Parliament, Iriaka Matiu Rātana was a passionate advocate for the welfare of her people.

She was born Iriaka Te Rio at Hiruhārama on the Whanganui River in 1905, and had connections to Te Āti Haunui-a-Pāpārangi through both parents. A talented singer, at 16 she went to live at Rātana Pā, joining and later training the young people’s cultural groups that accompanied prophet Tahupōtiki Wiremu Ratana on his tours around the country. In 1925 she became Rātana’s second wife and after his death, in 1939, she married Matiu, his son by his first marriage. By then, she was one of the most influential women in the Rātana movement.

Matiu Rātana won the Western Maori seat in 1945 but died in 1949, and Iriaka decided to step into his place. Despite vehement opposition from some, she became the Labour Party candidate and was comfortably elected. After giving birth to her seventh child in December 1949, she entered Parliament.

Iriaka Rātana accepted the desirability of Māori integration into Pākehā society, and was optimistic about the future of race relations. These attitudes assured her of a respectful hearing in Parliament. Distressed by the poverty and powerlessness of many Māori, she looked to the Department of Maori Affairs and organisations such as the Maori Women’s Welfare League (to which she belonged) for answers. She worked ceaselessly to represent the interests of her constituents, and in the 1950s successfully fought for the upgrading of services at Rātana Pā. In 1969 Iriaka Rātana retired from politics. She died in 1981, survived by nine children and many grandchildren.

By Angela Ballara; adapted by Nancy Swarbrick

Read full biography of Iriaka Rātana (DNZB)

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Iriaka Matiu Rātana

With fellow Labour MPs, Iriaka Rātana speaks to supporters of the Rātana political movement on Manukorihi marae, Waitara, in 1966. She was the first Māori woman to be elected to Parliament.

Wiremu Te Kakakura Parata

Portrait of Wiremu Te Kakakura Parata seated out side a raupo whare, probably at Karaka Bay, Seatoun, Wellington. Taken circa 1890s.

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Alexander Turnbull Library
Reference: 1/1-020616-G
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Hone Heke Ngapua

Portrait photograph of Hone Heke Ngapua, circa 1904.

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Alexander Turnbull Library
Reference: 1/2-018846-F
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Portrait of Wiremu Pere

Portait of Wiremu (Wi) Pere, circa 1885.

A runholder and politician, Pere was of mixed Te Aitanga-a-Mahaki, Te Whanau a Kai, Rongowhakata and European descent. He represented Eastern Maori in the House of Representatives from 1884 to 1887, and from 1893 to 1905.

Read Wiremu Pere biography

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Alexander Turnbull Library
Reference: 35mm-00189-B-F
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Group of Maori leaders c1908

A group photograph of Maori leaders of Gisborne photographed about 1908. On floor (L-R); Henare Te Raumoa Balneavis, Henare Ruru, Timoti Maitai. Seated; Wi Pere (2nd left), Te Huinga (Lady Carroll, 4th left), Patoromu Ruru, Paora Kohu (1st & 2nd right). Standing; Idie Ferris (2nd left), Take Kerekere (right)

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Alexander Turnbull Library
Reference: 1/2-044562-F
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Tahupotiki Wiremu Ratana's 60th birthday

This formal group portrait, taken on the occasion of Ratana's 60th birthday, includes Paraire Karaka Paikea and Tiaki Omana (back row, from left); and Haami Tokouru Ratana, Tahupotiki Wiremu Ratana and Eruera Tihema Te Aika Tirikatene (front row, from left).

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Reference: C 1933, Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa

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Ratana on the road

Tahupotiki Wiremu Ratana (seated in the back of a car holding a flag) publicising the Ratana movement at Taupo during one of his early 1920s motor tours. By 1928 the Ratana faith was said to have more than 28,000 followers or morehu (survivors), about a third of the total Maori population. That year, Ratana announced his intention to enter politics and campaign in the four Maori seats, which he called the 'four quarters' of his body.

Eruera Tirikatene won a Southern Maori by-election in 1932, and the then Ratana-Labour alliance completed a clean-sweep of the four seats in 1943, when Tiaki Omana defeated Sir Apirana Ngata in Eastern Maori. Labour was to hold all of the Maori seats until 1993.

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Alexander Turnbull Library
Reference: 1/2-089569-F
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Eruera Tirikatene

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.

See also: biography of Eruera Tihema Te Aika Tirikātene at DNZB website

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.

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Tahupotiki Wiremu Ratana

Tahupōtiki Wiremu Rātana, of Ngāti Apa and Ngā Rauru, was born at Te Kawau, near Bulls, in 1873.

In November 1918 he described a vision of the Holy Spirit, which had come to him in the form of a strange whirlwind-like cloud. After this he was known as the Māngai (mouthpiece) of the Holy Spirit, and was said to have the gift of healing through prayer. His reputation spread rapidly, and a village grew where he lived, becoming known as Rātana pā (midway between Whanganui and Marton). In 1921 and 1922 he travelled throughout New Zealand. Thousands attended his meetings, and many became his followers.

During the early 1920s the Rātana religious movement became more organised and political. An office was set up at Rātana pā, and members began publishing a newspaper, Te Whetū Mārama o Te Kotahitanga. In 1924 Rātana took a petition to London, signed by more than 30,000 Māori. They called for the return of confiscated lands, and implementation of the Treaty of Waitangi. He was not allowed to speak with King George V. A member of the group also tried and failed to present the petition to the League of Nations in Geneva. But Rātana’s actions did help persuade the New Zealand government, in 1926, to set up a commission of inquiry (the Sim Commission). It was to investigate land confiscation, and it later upheld many Māori grievances over land.

The Rātana Church was formally established in 1925. In 1928 Rātana became involved in politics. He referred to the four Māori seats as the four quarters of his body, which he aimed to win through the voting power of his followers – who were said to number 40,000 by 1934. Rātana favoured the Labour Party, who had consulted Rātana supporters in devising their Māori policy.

In 1932 Eruera Tirikātene became the first Rātana MP (representing Southern Māori), with instructions to support Labour. A Rātana candidate also won the Western Māori seat in 1935. In 1936 Rātana and his family declared themselves Labour Party members. At an historic meeting in 1936 he presented the Labour leader, M.J. Savage, with gifts symbolising the partnership between Rātana and Labour. By 1943 all four Labour seats were held by the Rātana/Labour alliance. Rātana died in 1939.

See also: biography of Tahupōtiki Wiremu Rātana at DNZB website

Tahupōtiki Wiremu Rātana

Ka whānau mai a Tahupōtiki Wiremu Rātana i Te Kawau, e pātata ana ki Te Ara-taumaihi (Bulls) i te tau 1873. Ko ōna iwi ko Ngāti Apa, ko Ngā Rauru.

I te marama o Nōema o te tau 1918 ka whakaaturia mai te Wairua Tapu ki a ia, hei tāna, he pēnei i te kapua āwhiowhio te āhua. Nō muri ka mōhiotia whānuitia ia ko te Māngai o te Wairua Tapu. Ka taea e ia te whakaora tangata mā roto i te karakia. Kāore noa i roa ka hau whānui te rongo mōna, ka tipu tētahi hapori i tōna kāinga, mōhiotia ai ā tōna wā ko Rātana pā (tata ki te tāone o Marton). I ngā tau o 1921 me 1922 ka takahia e ia te mata o te whenua. Ka muia ana hui e te tini me te mano, taka tonu te rahi ki raro i ana tohutohu.

I te tōmuatanga o te tekau tau atu i 1920 ka whakatikatika te Hāhi Rātana i a ia, ka ruku ki ngā kaupapa tōrangapū. Ka whakatūria he tari ki te pā o Rātana, ka whakaputahia he nūpepa, ko Te Whetū Mārama o Te Kotahitanga. I te tau 1924 ka heria e Rātana tētahi pitihana ki Rānana, e 30,000 te hunga haina. Ko te whāinga o tēnei pitihana kia whakahokia ngā whenua o te Māori i raupatutia, kia whakamanatia te Tiriti o Waitangi. Kāore i whakaaetia kia tūtaki ia ki a Kingi Hōri V. Nā tētahi o tōna rōpū i heri te pitihana ki Geneva, me kore e taea te tāpae ki te aroaro o te Rīki o ngā Iwi o te Ao; hauwarea. Heoi, nā te pitihana i whakakorikori te kāwanatanga o Aotearoa kia whakatū kōmihana (te Kōmihana o Sim) hei rangahau i ngā mahi raupatu whenua. Ka whakaae te kōmihana nei ki ētahi o ngā nawe i whakaarahia e pā ana ki te whenua Māori.

Nō te tau 1925 ka tū te Hāhi Rātana hei hāhi whai tikanga i raro i te ture. I te tau 1928 ka kuhu a Rātana ki te ao tōrangapū. Ka whakaritea e ia ngā tūru Pāremata e whā o te iwi Māori ki ngā wāhanga e whā o tōna tinana. Ka whai a Rātana kia riro aua tūru e whā, mā te tohutohu ki ana pononga me pēhea tā rātou tuku i ā rātou pōti. Tae atu ki te tau 1934 e 40,000 te rahi o ana pononga. Ka hiahia piri a Rātana ki te rōpū Reipa, he haere pea nō Reipa ki te kōrero ki a Rātana i te whakahiatotanga o ā rātou kaupapa here ka pā ki te iwi Māori.

I te tau 1932 ka pōtitia a Eruera Tirikātene ki te Pāremata mō te tūru Māori o Te Waipounamu; ko ia te mema Rātana tuatahi; ko ngā tohutohu atu ki a ia kia tautoko i a Reipa. Ka riro i a Rātana te tūru Māori o Te Tai Hau-ā-uru i te tau 1935. I te tau 1936 ka pānuitia e Rātana tā rātou kuhu ko tana whānau hei mema o te Rōpū Reipa. I tētahi hui whakahirahira i te tau 1936, ka tukua e Rātana ētahi taonga ki te kaiārahi o te rōpū Reipa ki a Te Hāwiti (Savage), he tohu i te mahinga tahitanga a Rātana rāua ko Reipa. Tatū ki te tau 1943 kua taka ngā tūru Māori katoa ki raro i te hononga Rātana/Reipa. Kei te mau tonu rāua ki taua ritenga i ēnei rā. Nō te tau 1939 ka mate a Rātana.

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