March 15, 2024
Unveiling for rangatira wahine with vision
Māori academic and commentator Ella Henry says the late Dame June Jackson was a woman of vision and charisma.
A headstone for the long serving Manukau Urban Maori Authority leader will be unveield tomorrow at the Mangere cemetery where she lied alongside her husband Bob Jackson.
Professor Henry says she first met Dame June more than 30 years ago during research for her masters’ thesis on Maori women in leadership, and came to see her as a friend and inspiration.
Her mahi creating Nga Whare Waatea as a centre for urban Maori was an example of creating something from almost nothing – including securing a donation of $100,000 of timber to build the marae after talking to a fellow passenger on a plane.
“I thought that was just such a lovely story about what for me is the real example of rangatiratanga which is people who lead with vision, not with force, not with might, not with dictarotiral means but who drag you along after them becaused of their vision and their moemoea and she was certainly a really beautiful example of that,” Professor Henry says.