Story: Tirikātene-Sullivan, Tini Whetū Marama

The Tirikātene legacy

The Tirikātene legacy

Though she was overlooked for a ministerial role in the fourth Labour government, Whetū Tirikātene-Sullivan continued to fight hard for Māori causes in Parliament. By the time she lost her seat in 1996, Whetū and her father Eruera (shown in the portrait behind her) had held the Southern Māori seat continuously for 64 years. In 2011 Whetu's nephew, Rino Tirikātene, was elected to Parliament for Te Tai Tonga, which covers most of the former Southern Māori seat.

Using this item

Alexander Turnbull Library
Reference: EP-Portraits of New Zealanders-Tirikatene-Sullivan, Whetu-01

Permission of the Alexander Turnbull Library, National Library of New Zealand, Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa, must be obtained before any re-use of this image.

How to cite this page:

Helen Brown. 'Tirikātene-Sullivan, Tini Whetū Marama', Dictionary of New Zealand Biography, first published in 2018. Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/en/biographies/6t6/tirikatene-sullivan-tini-whetu-marama (accessed 26 April 2024)