John Te Rangianiwaniwa Rangihau (5 September 1919 – 14 October 1987) was a

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

academic and Māori leader of the Ngāi Tūhoe

iwi Iwi () are the largest social units in New Zealand Māori society. In Māori, roughly means or , and is often translated as "tribe". The word is both singular and plural in the Māori language, and is typically pluralised as such in English. ...

. He was also called Te Nika and Te Rangihau. Rangihau was born at Kuha near Waikaremoana. He received his education at Kokako Native School and at Wesley College in

Auckland Auckland ( ; ) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. It has an urban population of about It is located in the greater Auckland Region, the area governed by Auckland Council, which includes outlying rural areas and ...

. He fought with the 28th New Zealand (Māori) Battalion in

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. He worked as a Māori welfare officer for the Department of Maori Affairs and became a recognised leader of the Tuhoe people. From 1957 to 1959, Rangihau completed a diploma in social science at Victoria University. In 1971 Rangihau founded the Te Hui Ahurei a Tūhoe festival, which is the longest running Iwi national festival. In 1973, Rangihau was working for the

University of Waikato The University of Waikato (), established in 1964, is a Public university, public research university located in Hamilton, New Zealand, Hamilton, New Zealand. An additional campus is located in Tauranga. The university performs research in nume ...

's Centre for Maori Studies and Research looking for ways to preserve the

Māori language Māori (; endonym: 'the Māori language', commonly shortened to ) is an Eastern Polynesian languages, Eastern Polynesian language and the language of the Māori people, the indigenous population of mainland New Zealand. The southernmost membe ...

. He was involved in setting up Māori-language pre-school groups in 1974, but they lasted less than a year. In the 1975 New Year Honours, he was awarded the

British Empire Medal The British Empire Medal (BEM; formerly British Empire Medal for Meritorious Service) is a British and Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth award for meritorious civil or military service worthy of recognition by the Monarchy of the United Ki ...

for services to the Māori people. Rangihau became involved in the ministerial committee to prevent the decline in the number of Māori language speakers in New Zealand, and the scheme came to fruition with the kōhanga reo scheme of Māori-language

kindergarten Kindergarten is a preschool educational approach based on playing, singing, practical activities such as drawing, and social interaction as part of the transition from home to school. Such institutions were originally made in the late 18th cen ...

s in 1982. After 1982, Rangihau became an advisor to the Maori Affairs Department. He encouraged Māori elders to contact their children and grandchildren in prisons and encourage them to return to their families once released. He facilitated research into Māori health. Victoria University established a teaching and research position in his honour in 1989.

References

1919 births 1987 deaths Ngāi Tūhoe people Victoria University of Wellington alumni New Zealand Māori academics Māori language revivalists New Zealand military personnel of World War II New Zealand recipients of the British Empire Medal {{academic-stub