Tākuta Richard Benton
University of Auckland, Anthropology Photographic Archive; Tohutoro: 494310
I tipu ake a Richard Benton i te Taitokerau, i reira ka whanake tana kaingākau ki te whenua nei, ki te reo o te whenua, me ngā otaota hoki kei te tipu i runga.
I ako ia i te tikanga wetereo, i oti i a ia tana tohu tākuta i Te Whare Wānanga o Hawai’i (Mānoa) i te tau 1972. I hoki mai ia ki Aotearoa, ka noho ia hei mema o Ngā Kaiwhakapūmau i te Reo, ā, ko āna rangahau ka noho hei tūāpapa matua mō te take o WAI11, ka mutu ka tautokohia e ia te kerēme ki te aroaro o Te Rōpū Whakamana i te Tiriti o Waitangi.
Nā rāua ko tāna wahine, a Nena, i whakahaere tētahi tino tirohanga whānui ki te whakamahinga o te reo Māori, mā Rangahau Mātauranga o Aotearoa, i waenganui i te tau 1973 ki 1979. Nā ngā hua i puta ake i roto i ā rāua mahi, ka whakaarohia me waihanga mahere whakaohooho i te reo me ngā kaupapa here e pā ana ki te reo Māori.
Kua noho a Richard Benton hei Tumuaki o Te Wāhanga Kaupapa Māori o Rangahau Mātauranga o Aotearoa, hei Tumuaki Tuarua o te Tari Māori me te Rangahau i Te Whare Wānanga o Waikato (1996—99), hei Tumuaki o te Tari Rangahau Māori o Hēmi Hēnare i Te Whare Wānanga o Tāmaki Makaurau (1999—2003), hei Ahorangi Tūhono mo Te Whare Takiura o Mātāhauariki i Te Whare Wānanga o Waikato (2004—07), hei Perehitini hoki o te Hōhaeiti o Poronīhia.
Mai i te tau 2008 i tīmatahia e ia ngā mahi mō Te Māra Reo, he pātata atu ki Taupiri, i te taha o te awa o Waikato. I tēnei whenua, i whakaingoatia ko Tūmanako, e tipu haere ana ngā rākau me ētahi atu tipu, ko ngā ingoa he mea mau mai ki Aotearoa e ngā tīpuna o te Māori. Ko Te Māra Reo e whakaatu ana, i Papatūānuku me te ipurangi, ngā here i waenganui i Aotearoa me ētahi atu iwi o Te Moana-nui-a-Kiwa, o Āhia hoki. Ka kitea te hononga i roto i ngā kupu e whakamahia ana mō ngā momo tipu. E whakanui ana Te Māra Reo i ngā taonga tuku iho tūturu, me te reo tuku iho.