Witarina Harris

Witarina Te Miriarangi Parewahaika Harris ( Mitchell; 15 May 1906 – 10 June 2007) was a New Zealand film actress, Māori language advocate, entertainer and public servant. She featured in the 1929 Universal Pictures silent film Under the Southern Cross as the heroine Princess Miro in her only film credit.

Harris worked for politician Āpirana Ngata as a secretary and helped to establish Wellington's Ngāti Pōneke Young Maori Club as a recreational and educational club for Māori people and the Māori Women's Welfare League. Late in her life, she promoted Māori cinema around the world and a documentary and film about her were broadcast.

Biography She was born Witarina Te Miriarangi Parewahaika Mitchell on 15 May 1906 in Ohinemutu, Rotorua. Harris' father, James Niramona Zealand Mitchell, was a surveyor of Ngāti Te Takinga, Ngāti Pikiao and Scottish descent. Her grandfather Rotohiko Tangonui Haupapa served on Rotorua's town board and the Pukeroa Hill Trustees Board. The family resided close to the Te Papaiouru Marae, She was cast as Princess Miro because the studio wanted a person to complement the vibrant local surroundings, Afterwards, she was part of the "silent migration" of Māori from rural areas to the cities to seek a job. She used the post to communicate in Māori both in verbal and written communication. In 1937, Harris assisted young and elderly individuals in the establishment of Wellington's Ngāti Poneke Young Maori Club as a recreational and educational club for Māori people to gather and interact. was a supporter of the māori language revival and worked with Matua Whangai to assist imprisoned Māori women. She died in Rotorua Hospital on 10 June 2007.