Dr Iritana Tāwhiwhirangi
Government House
Dame Iritana Te Rangi Tāwhiwhirangi is an acknowledged leader of the kōhanga reo movement. She has Ngāti Porou, Ngāti Kahungunu and Ngāpuhi ancestry.
Kiwibank, in introducing her as a finalist for New Zealander of the Year in 2014, called her ‘a true Kiwi revolutionary’.
Her honours include life membership of the Māori Women's Welfare League, and being made a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit in 2001 and a Dame Companion in 2009 for services to Māori education. Her 1992 appointment as a Member of the Order of the British Empire recognised her work as general manager of Te Kōhanga Reo National Trust.
Iritana Tāwhiwhirangi began her teaching career in the late 1940s and became a welfare officer based in Ruatōria, developing playcentres on the East Coast. She retired in 1989 after three years as an Assistant Secretary (Deputy Chief Executive) in the Department of Māori Affairs.
Interviewed on Waka Huia in 2012, Dame Iritana said: ‘I have never seen in my lifetime so many achievements as I've seen in these kōhanga graduates. Standing tall, speaking Māori. People always said, “But what about the English?” The thing is if you never had a teacher in this country children would still learn English, because it's all around them. Children are tremendous sponges, they can learn whatever is around. I'm very optimistic about the future, if we get it right and keep on involving people the way we have done.’