Ranginui Walker

Ranginui Joseph Isaac Walker (1 March 1932 – 29 February 2016) was a New Zealand academic, author, and activist of Māori and Lebanese descent. Walker wrote about Māori land rights and cultural identity in his books and columns for the weekly New Zealand Listener and the monthly Metro magazine throughout the 1980s and 1990s.

Early life Walker was born in 1932 into a farming family on the tribal lands of Whakatōhea, near Ōpōtiki in the Bay of Plenty. He credited Wairata for helping him to learn Māori language and culture at a young age. In his own history of Whakatōhea (2007) Walker explained that at this time Māori language and culture were unfashionable, and that his generation was expected to assimilate.

Personal life Walker met Deirdre Dodson at Auckland Teachers' Training College in Epsom, and the couple were married in 1953. They had three children. According to biographer Professor Paul Spoonley, "The acceptance of intermarriage was an issue for both sets of parents: Walker's parents were concerned that Deirdre was a Pākehā and not Roman Catholic; Deirdre’s were concerned that their daughter was to marry a Māori."

Walker commented that the country's race problems would be solved 'in the bedrooms of the nation.'

In 2003, Walker became a member of the Waitangi Tribunal. He held a strong belief in Maori Identity, and had stated that William Hobson's declaration that "He iwi tahi tātou", meaning "We are now one people", in the Treaty of Waitangi, was a cultural attack on the indigenous people of New Zealand.

Awards and honours In the 2001 Queen's Birthday Honours, Walker was appointed a Distinguished Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit, for services to Māori. When the New Zealand government restored titular honours in 2009, he declined redesignation as a Knight Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit. Walker believed it was not appropriate to accept a knighthood which would undermine the significance of Māori sovereignty, an issue he stood firmly on. He was only one of two candidates to decline the knighthood, the other being Richie McCaw.

In 2009, Walker received a Prime Minister's Award for Literary Achievement.

Following Walker's death in 2016, Prime Minister John Key said Walker was "not only an insightful commentator on important historical and contemporary issues but was a tireless and passionate advocate for Māori".

Former Prime Minister Helen Clark tweeted "Greatly saddened by news of death of Ranginui Walker, one of New Zealand's finest people; eminent academic & author."

Published works

Walker published a number of books, including:

Perceptions and Attitudes of the New Generation of Maoris to Pakeha Domination (1981) History of Maori Activism (1983) The Treaty of Waitangi (1983) The Political Development of the Maori People in New Zealand (1984) The Meaning of Biculturalism (1986) Nga Mamae o te Iwi Maori: Te Ripoata o te Hui i Turangawaewae (1987) Nga Tau Tohetohe The Years of Anger (1987) Ka Whawhai Tonu Matou / Struggle Without End (1990) Second Edition (2004) Liberating Maori from Educational Subjection (1991) Nga Pepa a Ranginui The Walker Papers (1997) He Tipua The Life and Times of Sir Apirana Ngata (2001) Opotiki-Mai-Tawhiti Capital of Whakatohea (2007)