September 26, 2019
Symposium honours Awanuiārangi founder
Whakatāne's Te Wānanga o Awanuiārangi is hosting a conference today to acknowledge the lifetime contribution of its founder, Professor Tā Hirini Moko Mead.
The 92-year-old scholar will serve as a moderator for the Mātauranga Māori 2020 and Beyond Symposium, which will feature his former students like Supreme Court Justice Joe Williams and Māori Land Court Deputy Chief Judge Caren Fox.
Materoa Dodd, a Ngāti Awa representative on the Awanuiārangi council, says Tā Hirini has been a visionary for the tribe and for Māoridom.
"He was the centre. He was the core and the founder and without the vision he had for wanting to establish a whare wānanga, we would never have pulled it off as we have today," she says.
The symposium will also acknowledge the role of Tā Hirini's late wife, June Te Rina Walker, in his success.
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