Saana Murray

Saana Romana Murray (22 November 1925 – 3 September 2011), also known as Hana Waitai Murray, was a Māori master weaver, poet and writer in New Zealand, who was affiliated with Ngāti Kurī at Aupouri. She was the only claimant on the Wai 262 claim still alive when the report was delivered.

Early life and family Murray was born on 22 November 1925 at Te Hāpua in Northland, and was the eldest of 14 children. Murray had thirteen children.

Murray pleaded the case for Māori ownership of Māori taonga, land and intellectual property to anyone who would listen, for forty years, and joked to reporter Kennedy Warne that she would go down in history as "the great objector". She said it was "important to preserve the land for future generations of any race and not succumb to business interests unless they were beneficial to all". Murray was a tohunga, or master, weaver. In recognition of her status as a master weaver, she was appointed to the Kahui Whiritoi of the New Zealand Māori Arts and Crafts Institute. Murray wrote poetry in te reo and English, and at the time of her death was working on a second book. In the 1976 New Year Honours, she was awarded the Queen's Service Medal for community service. She was appointed a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit, for services to the community, in the 2009 Queen's Birthday Honours.

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