June 06, 2022
Dr Patu Hohepa-Queen’s Birthday and Platinum Jubilee Honours 2022
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To be a Knight Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit:HOHEPA, Dr Patrick Wahanga (Patu)
For services to Māori culture and education
Dr Patu Hohepa is a kaumātua whose leadership and advocacy for Māori cultural recognition and development has raised the profile of Māori culture in New Zealand. A retired Professor of Māori Language at the University of Auckland, he is a renowned teacher and scholar of te reo Māori and other Pacific languages. A leader in the ‘Māori renaissance’ he was the first to advocate for a marae at the University of Auckland. In the 1980s he wrote a report for the government on the establishment of the Waitangi Tribunal, and repeal of the Māori Affairs Act. From 1997 to 2007, he served as the Commissioner of the Māori Language Commission, heavily promoting Te Reo Māori and developing proficiency testing. He served as a member of Te Waka Toi, the Māori Board of Creative New Zealand from 2004 and 2008. He has been a kaumātua for a large number of organisations, including as a member of Haerewa, the Māori Cultural Advisory Group of Auckland Art Gallery. As part of this role, he led the New Zealand delegation accompanying an exhibition of fifty portraits of Māori by pre-eminent painter Gottfried Lindauer to Europe in late 2014. Dr Hohepa continues to teach te reo Māori and has received awards for his contributions to strengthening Te Reo Rangatira.