Professor Emeritus Whatarangi Winiata, one of the architects of the modern Māori renaissance and a tireless advocate for te reo Māori, has died aged 84.
Of Ngāti Raukawa descent, Winiata was born at Hōkio in Horowhenua and went on to help shape some of the most influential Māori institutions of the past half-century
His daughter, Petina Winiata, reflects on moments spent with her father and the pressures of his service to his iwi.
“E maumahara ana, tino tamariki ana mātou, i ngā mutunga wiki, i haria mātou ki tātahi, ki ngā papatākaro tonu o te taone, ki te whare pikitia, ērā tūmomo mahi katoa. Engari te hokinga mai ki Aotearoa nei, ka mutu ērā mahi, i riro kē i te iwi tō mātou pāpā.”
(We were remembering when we, as kids, during the final (holiday) weeks, they’d take us to the beach, playgrounds in the town, movies, those kinds of things. But, we’d come back to here to Aotearoa, and that was it - then he belongs to the iwi.)
In 1957, he became only the second Māori graduate to earn a Bachelor of Commerce from the University of New Zealand. He later studied at the University of Michigan, completing both an MBA and a PhD before embarking on an internationally recognised academic career.
He married Francie Aratema in 1961. The couple raised four children while living in the United States and Canada, where he taught at the University of British Columbia before returning to Aotearoa in the mid-1970s.
Architect of Whakatupuranga Rua Mano
After returning home to Horowhenua, he accepted the chair of accountancy role at Victoria University of Wellington. Soon after, a tribal survey revealed a stark reality: there were no fluent speakers of te reo Māori under the age of 30 among those who whakapapa to Ngāti Raukawa.
Rather than accept the decline of the language, Whatarangi applied the same strategic thinking that had shaped his academic career. Drawing on his expertise in finance and long-term planning, he developed Whakatupuranga Rua Mano (Generation 2000), a 25-year iwi development strategy aimed at restoring the language, culture and identity of his people.
His son, Pakake Winiata, later described the mission as both ambitious and methodical.
“One, to return te reo as the first language for his whānau; second, among his extended relations; third, his people; and fourth, to all people.”
At the centre of that vision was the establishment of Te Wānanga o Raukawa in Ōtaki in 1981, New Zealand’s first contemporary Māori tertiary institution.
Winiata later served as chief executive from 1994 to 2007, helping build the wānanga around a kaupapa Māori model of education.
The impact of that work is visible today. Ōtaki is recognised as one of the country’s leading bilingual communities, with te reo Māori widely spoken throughout the town. His son, Kimo Winiata, talks about the pride his father felt on seeing the growing revitalisation of the reo in his lifetime.
“I tino pōhēhē ia, ka rua, ka toru pea ngā tipuranga ka hoki mai te reo. Ka tino mīharo ia i te kite kotahi noa te tipuranga - kua hoki mai te reo.”
(He really thought it would take two or three generations for the language to return. He was really impressed to see it come back in one generation)
Winiata’s commitment to language revitalisation also extended to broadcasting. He was a senior member of Ngā Kaiwhakapūmau i te Reo, the group behind Te Upoko o Te Ika, the first Māori-language radio station in Aotearoa.
Political life and national leadership
Following the Takutai Moana hīkoi in 2004, Winiata was called on to become the founding president of the Māori Party, now Te Pāti Māori.
Working alongside co-leaders Dame Tariana Turia and Tā Pita Sharples, he helped guide the party through its formative years, serving until 2009.
Winiata brought organisational discipline and strategic direction to the movement. While many viewed the party as a political vehicle, he saw it as part of a broader project of Māori self-determination and iwi development.
His influence extended beyond politics. Over more than six decades, he worked across education, governance, economic development and advocacy. He also spent 15 years with the New Zealand Māori Council, helping hold the Crown to its Treaty of Waitangi obligations.
Details of his tangihanga have yet to be confirmed. It is expected he will lie at Ngātokowaru Marae, Levin before being laid to rest alongside his wife, Francie, at Raumatangi.
Nō reira e te rangatira, e te pou o te ao Māori, e moe, e moe, e moe.
