Musterer, shearer, fencer and community leader, Jim Turuhia Edmonds is seeking a second term in Horizons Regional Council’s Raki Māori seat.
At 76, the Golden Shears winner has dedicated his life to serving whānau, hapū and iwi, and is determined to have Māori voices heard and respected at the council table.
Edmonds (Ngāti Uenuku, Ngāti Tūwharetoa) has a long record of governance and leadership. He has served on the Ātihau-Whanganui and Morikau Incorporations, the Federation of Māori Authorities, the Waimarino and Ruapehu councils, and chaired Raetihi Marae. He was also a cultural adviser to Winstone Afforestation.
Born at Raetihi Hospital, he was raised on his mother’s land at Ruakākā in the Manganui-o-te-Ao valley.
“We had to break in the horse and learn to ride it – or walk. Half the house had a floor, the other half was dirt. If you were hungry, you were lazy – that’s what Nan used to say. We lived off the land.”
Hunting in the bush as a teenager, he remembers distributing his catch to people along the way home.
“No fridges in those days – it was all shared out. That’s what we did.”
The middle child of 15, his mother told him his role was to “keep the waka balanced.”
“I’m still trying to keep the waka level,” he says.
Leaving school at 16, Edmonds worked on farms across the central North Island, mustering, shearing and fencing on stations that would later return to iwi through the Ātihau-Whanganui Incorporation. He went on to manage several large farms and was appointed to the boards of Morikaunui and Ātihau, where he spent more than three decades helping to recover and develop ancestral land.
“The dream was to do something for our people – to extract the best value from the land, but improve the asset and leave it better than when we found it. Continuous development and improvement, that’s what it was about.”
All the while, Edmonds has taken care of his community. In 2018, nominated by Ngāti Uenuku, he was honoured with the Waimarino-Waiouru Citizens Award. His citation recognised his quiet service – mowing lawns at the Raetihi Māori cemetery, delivering firewood and food, fixing fences and supporting kaumātua and whānau in need.
Edmonds believes the regional council needs “hands-on” people with lived experience of the land. He advocates for practical solutions informed by Māori knowledge, science and innovation.
“Wai – we need good water, and to get rid of wastewater so it doesn’t contaminate anything else. Forestry – if you’re cutting trees, know where the ends are going. Infrastructure – we need good transport hubs to move kai to sale. Flooding and climate change – with science and mātauranga we can alleviate the impacts.
“It’s mountains to the sea, a holistic view. What we do in one rohe can help another. It’s a huge job and things are always changing, but it’s rewarding.”
LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air