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Biography: Kawharu, Ian Hugh

Kawharu honoured

A profile photograph showing Reeves and Kawharu engaged in a hōngi (pressing noses together in greeting). Kawharu wears a kahukiwi (Māori cloak of kiwi feathers).

Hugh Kawharu (right) received a knighthood for services to education and to the Māori people in the 1989 Queen’s Birthday honours. It was bestowed, appropriately, by Sir Paul Reeves, the first governor-general of Māori descent. 

Using this item

Alexander Turnbull Library

Reference: Dominion Post Collection. Dom/1989/1120/6-F

by Martin Hunter

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

Margaret Kawharu. 'Kawharu, Ian Hugh', Dictionary of New Zealand Biography, first published in 2023. Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/en/photograph/47847/kawharu-honoured (accessed 4 June 2026).