Te Tai – Treaty Settlement Stories

Kōrero: Te Mana o te Reo Māori

Tā Himi Henare

(1911—1989)

He momo rangatira kua rongo whānuitia tōna mana, e mau tonu nei ōna kupu whakaohooho.
Tā Himi Henare
He whakaahua o Tā Himi Henare nō te tau 1984. Fairfax NZ, Evening Post, 1984. Stuff
‘Ko te reo te mauri o te mana Māori’

I whānau mai i te tau 1911, ko ōna kāwai whakapapa i heke mai i ngā iwi maha o te Tai Tokerau, tae rā anō ki a Ngāti Whātua, ki a Ngāpuhi hoki.

Ko ia te mokopuna a Kānara Robert Wynyard, nāna i ārahi i te ope taua 58 Piritana i ngā Pakanga o te Tai Tokerau (1845–46).

Tekau mā whā tōna pakeke, ka puta ia i te whare wānanga whakamutunga o Ngāti Hine, i Taumārere. I reira ka ākona ia ki ngā āhuatanga tapu o te ao Maori, mai i te tohunga, i a Hāre Whiro.

I kuhu atu ia ki te ope taua i te wā o te Pakanga Tuarua o Te Ao, hei hōia. Mutu rawa ake te pakanga kua kake ake a Hēnare hei Rūtene Kānara, te amorangi o Te Hokowhitu-a-Tū 28.

Nā te nui tonu o tōna mana, e rongohia ana i roto i ngā hapori Māori, Pākehā hoki, ka kitea te mīharo o āna mahi mō te kerēme WAI11 i roto i ngā huihuinga a te Rōpū Whakamana i te Tiriti o Waitangi. Ko tōna mana tonu e whakaatu atu ana ki te hunga Pākehā, ko te tautoko i te reo Maori i raro i te Tiriti he kaupapa i tautokona e te ao Māori katoa, kei tua noa atu o ‘te hunga whakahē’, arā, he kaupapa taketake nō te ao Māori.

Ko tana kōrero ki Te Rōpū Whakamana i te Tiriti i te tau 1985, 'Ko te reo te mauri o te mana Māori’. I rongonuitia ēnei kōrero. I roto i aua kupu iti nei, ko te whakarāpopototanga o te kaha aumangea o te iwi Maori kia mau tonu, kia whakaara ake anō i tō rātou reo.

I te tau 1966 ka whakawhiwhia ia ki te Tohu Tāpui OBE, ā, ka tohua ia hei Tā i te tau 1978. He nui ngā hōnore nui i riro i a ia, pērā ki te Mētara Koroneihana (1953), ko te Mētara o te Ahurei Hiriwa (1977), ā, i riro hoki i a ia te tākutatanga whakahōnoretanga mai i Te Whare Wananga o Tāmakimakaurau (1986).

Māori