Te Kapunga Matemoana "Koro" Dewes (7 April 1930 – 17 August 2010) was a

kaumātua A kaumātua is a respected tribal elder in a Māori community who has been involved with their whānau for a number of years. They are appointed by their people who believe the chosen elders have the capacity to teach and guide both current a ...

of the

Ngāti Porou Ngāti Porou is a Māori iwi traditionally located in the East Cape and Gisborne regions of the North Island of New Zealand. It has the second-largest affiliation of any iwi, behind Ngāpuhi, with an estimated 102,480 people according to the ...

iwi of New Zealand. He was a pioneer of Māori education and an advocate for 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 ...

. Dewes attended Horoera Native Primary School and won a scholarship to Wesley College, where he became dux and head prefect. He went to Ardmore Teachers' College (now part of the

University of Auckland The University of Auckland (; Māori: ''Waipapa Taumata Rau'') is a public research university based in Auckland, New Zealand. The institution was established in 1883 as a constituent college of the University of New Zealand. Initially loc ...

) in 1949 and taught at Tikitiki District High School and St. Stephen's Anglican Māori boarding school. From 1962 to 1966, he lectured in the University Extension Department (adult education) of the

, and then was appointed as a lecturer in Māori language at the

Victoria University of Wellington Victoria University of Wellington (), also known by its shorter names "VUW" or "Vic", is a public university, public research university in Wellington, New Zealand. It was established in 1897 by Act of New Zealand Parliament, Parliament, and w ...

. At Wellington, he helped to extend courses to allow students to complete a degree major in Māori language. He wrote a master's thesis on the work of composer Henare Waitoa, which was submitted in Māori in 1972. The title of the master's thesis was ''Ngā waiata haka a Hēnare Waitoa o Ngāti Porou (modern dance-poetry by Hēnare Waitoa of Ngāti Porou)''. He was awarded an honorary doctorate of literature (DLitt) by Victoria in 2002. Dewes returned to the

East Cape East Cape is the easternmost point of the main islands of New Zealand. It is at the northern end of the Gisborne District of the North Island. East Cape was originally named "Cape East" by British explorer James Cook during his 1769–1779 voy ...

area in 1976, where in 1987 he helped form Te Runanga o Ngati Porou, an organisation which has championed and facilitated a strategic vision for the Ngāti Porou. Māori Affairs Minister

Pita Sharples Sir Pita Russell Sharples (born Peter Russell Sharples, 20 July 1941) is a New Zealand Māori academic and politician, who was a co-leader of the Māori Party from 2004 to 2013, and a minister outside Cabinet in the National Party-led governme ...

said Dewes "was a partisan rather than a diplomat" who "has been an inspiration for language activists from every

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. ...

, and for

indigenous people There is no generally accepted definition of Indigenous peoples, although in the 21st century the focus has been on self-identification, cultural difference from other groups in a state, a special relationship with their traditional territ ...

s around the world."

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* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Dewes, Koro 1930 births 2010 deaths New Zealand Māori academics People educated at Wesley College, Auckland Academic staff of the University of Auckland Academic staff of Victoria University of Wellington University of Auckland alumni Māori language revivalists Ngāti Porou people