June 28, 2025

Sir Hirini Mead – nearing 100 our National treasure launches a new book

Matthew Tukaki Posted On June 28, 2025

Huia Publishers and Te Whare Wānanga o Awanuiārangi have announced the upcoming release of Mātauranga Māori by one of the foremost authorities on kaupapa Māori topics, Tā Hirini Moko Mead. In this book, Tā Hirini defines mātauranga Māori as the beating heart of culture – living, interconnected and all-encompassing. He dedicates chapters to astronomy, language, spirituality, art, time, values, and our relationship to the world through Te Moana-nui-a-Kiwa, the Pacific Ocean. Highlighting how new knowledge is integrated, he also explores how successive generations have contributed to the growth and refinement of mātauranga Māori in a rapidly changing world.

When asked why now, at 98, was the right time, he replied, ‘This book is a dream fulfilled – it is informed by every book, paper and article written across 73 years. You can understand mātauranga Māori by looking at its branches as they are interlocking and interdependent with each other. That is – language, art, ceremony, values, science, time, place, spirituality, environment and belonging – come together in the mātauranga Māori formula.’ Authoring the foreword for Mātauranga Māori, Justice Layne Harvey notes how Tā Hirini also created a book that helps non-Māori better connect to Aotearoa, ‘‘Cultural capacity also helps non-Māori identify more positively as New Zealand citizens.’ In this way, Tā Hirini writes for everybody.’

Mātauranga Māori by Tā Hirini Moko Mead is available to preorder now from all good bookstores and from Huia Publishers’ website for $45.00. The book will be launched in Whakatāne on 28 June.

Mātauranga Māori is the companion publication to the bestselling Tikanga Māori. Chief Executive of Te Whare Wānanga o Awanuiārangi, Professor Wiremu Doherty spoke to the book’s importance for the Wānanga: ‘Tā Hirini has played a role of unparalleled significance elevating the status, prominence and revitalisation of Māori culture. Dedicating this book to the mokopuna generation of our nation represents him passing on the baton to our rangatahi, having shaped entire networks and support systems for them to be equipped – Te Whare Wānanga o Awanuiārangi is one of these.’

Born in 1927 at Wairoa to parents of Ngāti Awa, Ngāti Tūwharetoa, Ngāi Tūhoe, and Tūhourangi descent, Sir Hirini Moko Mead has been a transformative figure in Māori cultural revival, education, and leadership for nearly a century. In 1977, Mead established the first university Māori studies department at Victoria University of Over his career, he authored more than 70 books, papers, and articles, including Tikanga Māori: Living by Māori Values, a cornerstone text in Māori ethics and cultural practices. After earning a PhD in the U.S. (1968), he taught at McMaster University and the University of British Columbia before returning to resource Māori academia in Aotearoa.

In 1992, Mead co-founded Te Whare Wānanga o Awanuiārangi, Whakatāne’s Māori university, becoming both founding chair and keystone in its tribal governance and educational mission. He also inaugurated its library, Te Kōputu Kōrero a Tā Hirini Moko Mead, in 2012. Mead has been a staunch advocate for Māori knowledge systems: On an RNZ podcast, he reflected:

“Mātauranga Māori is a rare sort of taonga… It disappeared under colonisation, and now every department claims it.”

He called for the revival of the National Māori Congress to protect te reo, traditional knowledge, and mātauranga under Māori leadership. In 2006, Mead was made Distinguished Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit, and subsequently received a knighthood in 2009 for his contributions to Māori and education. He remains active as a wānanga elder (kaumātua) and sits on advisory bodies and iwi settlement negotiations.

Nearing 100. Mead described his life’s work: “One could say that yes, I did walk the talk.” He highlighted how tamariki (children) are now more culturally aware than the kaumātua of his own generation. He also credited his late wife, Lady June, as central to the success of Te Whare Wānanga’s early years