Kāterina Mataira

Dame Kāterina Te Heikōkō Mataira (13 November 1932 – 16 July 2011) was a New Zealand Māori language proponent, educator, intellectual, artist and writer. Her efforts to revive and revitalise the Māori language (te reo Māori) led to the growth of Kura Kaupapa Māori in New Zealand. on the east coast of the North Island. She initially studied to be an art teacher and educator. and Ardmore Teachers College and taught at Northland College where one of her students was Selwyn Muru, inspiring him to also attend Admore.

Mataira spent time on various Pacific Islands. She was in Fiji from 1973 to 1975 including working at the University of South Pacific. She got involved with teacher training and also the study of tapa cloth making. From there she went to Rarotonga as they were reviving tapa. She ran art programmes in Samoa, Nauru and Gilbert Islands. Her efforts earned her the nickname of the "mother" of the Kura Kaupapa Māori, according to Dr Pita Sharples.

In 1996 the University of Waikato in 1996 gave her an Honorary Doctorate.

In the 1998 Queen's Birthday Honours, Mataira was appointed a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit, for services to the Māori language. One month before her death, she was promoted to Dame Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit, also for services to the Māori language, in the 2011 Queen's Birthday Honours.

In 2001 she received Te Tohu Tiketike / Exemplary Award from Creative New Zealand's Te Waka Toi awards.

In 2007, Mataira received the Betty Gilderdale Award.

In 2009 UNESCO awarded her the Linguapax Award which is ‘an international honour which recognises the preservation and promotion of mother languages as essential vehicles of identity and cultural expression.’

Books

Written in Māori language (te reo Māori)

Te Atea (1975) Makorea (2000). Ahuru Press. A three-volume historical novel. Makorea (2002) Rehua (2006) Picture books in Māori for children – Maui and the Big Fish, Marama Taniweto and Nga Mokonui a Rangi

Death Mataira died on 16 July 2011, in Hamilton, at the age of 78. She was survived by her nine children, 50 grandchildren, great-grandchildren and one great-great-grandchild. Her tangi, or Māori funeral, was at the Ohinewaiapu Marae in Rangitukia.