Teupoko'ina Utanga Morgan

Teupoko'ina Utanga Morgan (1 October 1934 – 15 September 2007) was a Cook Islands educator, politician and writer of children's books and song books. She was elected to the Legislative Assembly in 1961, becoming one of the first two women directly elected to the islands' legislature.

Biography Morgan was born in Avarua in 1934, the oldest of six children of Ripeka and Utanga Utanga. She studied at Ardmore Teachers' College from 1953 to 1954, where she met Guy Morgan. In the same year she joined Rarotonga Teachers' Training College as teacher and Women's Warden. becoming the first directly elected woman in the Assembly alongside Poko Ingram. However, she returned to New Zealand the following year and started teaching at Tarawera School. Two years later she moved to Wharepaina Maori School, where she taught for three years. In the same year, she was awarded the Queen's Service Medal. During the 1990s she wrote and published a series of children's books in Cook Islands Māori, which were translated into Samoan, and two volumes of Cook Islands songs and verse for children. She later wrote a non-fiction work on the experiences of Cook Islands women in New Zealand, titled Cook Islands women pioneers: early experiences in New Zealand = Vainetini kuki airani, which was published in 2001.

After suffering a stroke in August 2007, she died in Waikato Hospital on 15 September 2007. Anau Ako Pasifika established the Teupoko'ina Utanga Morgan Memorial Award to encourage the development of Pacific early childhood education services.