{"id":452972,"date":"2026-05-30T17:16:24","date_gmt":"2026-05-30T17:16:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/452972\/"},"modified":"2026-05-30T17:16:24","modified_gmt":"2026-05-30T17:16:24","slug":"maori-leader-and-academic-sir-hirini-moko-mead-has-died-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/452972\/","title":{"rendered":"M\u0101ori leader and academic Sir Hirini Moko Mead has died"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"M\u0101ori<\/p>\n

\nM\u0101ori writer and teacher Dr Hirini Moko Mead
\nPhoto: Awanui\u0101rangi Council\n<\/p>\n

M\u0101ori leader and academic Sir Hirini Moko Mead<\/a> has died, he was 99.<\/p>\n

A descendant of Ng\u0101ti Awa, Ng\u0101ti T\u016bwharetoa, Ng\u0101i T\u016bhoe and T\u016bhourangi, Sir Hirini was an educator, author, iwi leader and one of the currators of the landmark Te M\u0101ori exhibition.<\/p>\n

In 2023, in an interview with Julian Wilcox for the podcast Indigenous 100, he said although he’s unsure how much younger people he interacts with know about his life’s work, he was treated with respect.<\/p>\n

“They just know ‘He has a bit of mana around here’… so I gather from that that the legacy is that some of them do remember what has been done and what I achieved for the [Ng\u0101ti Awa] iwi and the many battles that I fought.<\/p>\n

“One could say that yes, I did walk the talk.”<\/p>\n

Mead was the founding Professor of M\u0101ori at Victoria University of Wellington and established the first Department of M\u0101ori Studies in New Zealand along with the first university based marae on a campus – Te Herenga Waka.<\/p>\n

After his retirement from Victoria University he helped establish Te Whare W\u0101nanga o Awanui\u0101rangi in Whakat\u0101ne. Mead said he couldn’t have achieved all that he did without the support of his late wife Lady June Mead, who had a lot to do with the establishment of the w\u0101nanga.<\/p>\n

Into his 90s Mead continued to chair the council of Te Whare W\u0101nanga o Awanui\u0101rangi.<\/p>\n

\"Lady<\/p>\n

\nLady June Mead and Sir Hirini Moko Mead
\nPhoto: RNZ\/Justine Murray\n<\/p>\n

Mead was one of the curators of the 1984 landmark exhibition, Te M\u0101ori. Which toured the United States before returning to Aotearoa as Te Hokinga Mai.<\/p>\n

On the plane trip back to New Zealand he said it was a confirmation to M\u0101ori people<\/a> that they had been right.<\/p>\n

“And so, what we’re getting at all of these venues overseas was a confirmation to the M\u0101ori people that we’ve been right, we’ve been right to hold fast to our culture to hold fast to M\u0101oritanga, that we really do have something to give to the world at large. And if the New Zealand P\u0101keh\u0101 rejects it well, I think from now on what we have to say is, ‘that’s their hard luck’.”<\/p>\n

He was the inaugural chairperson of Te R\u016bnanga o Ng\u0101ti Awa and Chief Negotiator for Ng\u0101ti Awa Treaty claims from 1992-2005.<\/p>\n

Mead was instrumental in negotiating the return of the famous wharenui Mataatua, ‘Te Whare i Hoki Mai or the House that Came Home,’ to Whakat\u0101ne, which was opened in 2011.<\/p>\n

\"Mataatua<\/p>\n

\nMataatua Wharenui, Whakatane
\nPhoto: Ng\u0101ti Awa\n<\/p>\n

In the 2006 Queen’s Birthday honours he was named a Distinguished Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit for his services to M\u0101ori and Education, he was Knighted in 2009.<\/p>\n

He was the author of several books including Tikanga M\u0101ori: Living by M\u0101ori Values.<\/p>\n

Sign up for Ng\u0101 Pitopito K\u014drero<\/a>, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"M\u0101ori writer and teacher Dr Hirini Moko Mead Photo: Awanui\u0101rangi Council M\u0101ori leader and academic Sir Hirini Moko…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":450935,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[48,47,42,43,49,46,44,45,40,38,41,39],"class_list":["post-452972","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-audio","tag-current-affairs","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-podcasts","tag-public-radio","tag-radio-new-zealand","tag-rnz","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/452972","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=452972"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/452972\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/450935"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=452972"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=452972"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=452972"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}