Ihakara Puketapu

Ihakara Porutu "Kara" Puketapu is a leader of the Te Āti Awa iwi in Waiwhetū, Lower Hutt, New Zealand. He has a doctorate from the University of Chicago.[1]

Kara was born to Ihaia Porutu (Paddy) Puketapu of the Te Āti Awa iwi and Taranaki-born Vera May Yeates (1904 – 16 March 1991), a Pākehā, who were both on their second marriages.[2]

Puketapu grew up in Taranaki and rose through the ranks[3] of the Ministry of Maori Affairs (later named the Ministry of Māori Affairs and ultimately Te Puni Kōkiri) to become Secretary of Maori Affairs.[4] He is renowned for forging a new direction for the Department to empower Māori development in response to the difficulties being faced by Māori in the urban environment. Under his leadership several Kōkiri units were established in the Wellington area. These units worked with local communities to devise programmes to support cultural and economic aspirations, thus reversing the normal 'top down' approach of government departments. It was at one of these Kōkiri units in Wainuiomata that the first kōhanga reo was established. Puketapu's philosophy is outlined in his book Reform from Within.[5]

During his time as Secretary of Māori Affairs Puketapu chaired the management committee of Te Maori, the first international exhibition of Māori objects as art. After a triumphant run at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Saint Louis Art Museum and the M.H. de Young Memorial Museum, Te Maori toured New Zealand.[6]

Puketapu also rose in standing within his iwi, to become chairperson of the Te Āti Awa Runanga (tribal council).[7] The Te Āti Awa Runanga run a primary health organisation in their Waiwhetū area[8][9] and a radio station (Atiawa Toa FM). Recently they have clashed with local authorities over the custodianship of waka.[10]

Puketapu was top rugby player in his youth,[11] and later became involved in coaching Rugby League. Puketapu became involved with the Wainuiomata Lions both as a coach and serving as President.[12][13] During the 1995 Lion Red Cup Puketapu briefly served as the coach of the Hutt Valley Hawks.

In 2008, Puketapu resigned from the Port Nicholson Block Treaty Settlement Trust chaired by Sir Ngatata Love over the compensation for Waiwhetū land confiscated by the Crown in the 1940s.[10]

References
  1. Annette Hamilton and Fred Hamilton (1979). "Warriors of the Pacific Part II". Black Belt. Retrieved 2 October 2011.
  2. Obituary for Vera May Puketapu, Evening Post March 1991. Wellington, New Zealand.
  3. "TE AO HOU The New World [electronic resource]". teaohou.natlib.govt.nz. 2011. Retrieved 2 October 2011. Cover Photo: Mr Whatarangi Winiata and Mr Ihakara Puketapu, both members of the Maori Young Leaders Conference. Mr Puketapu is welfare officer in Wellington; Mr Winiata, a public accountant, has gone abroad on a scholarship awarded by Rotary. (Photo: Peter Blanc.)
  4. "Providing Quality Advice and Service under Changing Parameters". firstfound.org. 2010. Retrieved 2 October 2011. Ihakara Puketapu, former Secretary of Maori Affairs
  5. Kara Puketapu. 1982. Reform from Within. Wellington: Department of Māori Affairs.
  6. "Te Maori exhibition opens in New York". nzhistory.net.nz. 2011. Archived from the original on 30 December 2011. Retrieved 2 October 2011. The following year Cabinet formally approved the proposal and the formation of a Te Maori management committee, chaired by the Secretary for Maori Affairs, Kara Puketapu.
  7. "Balancing Commercial". firstfound.org. 2010. Retrieved 2 October 2011. Ihakara Puketapu, Chairman, Te Atiawa Runanga
  8. "Health". atiawa.com. 2011. Retrieved 2 October 2011.
  9. "Charities Register entry for Tamaiti Whangai PHO". register.charities.govt.nz. 2011. Retrieved 2 October 2011.
  10. "Iwi infighting stalls wharewaka plans". stuff.co.nz. 2011. Retrieved 2 October 2011. At a meeting in Waiwhetu last month, Waiwhetu Maori leader Kara Puketapu told Port Nicholson Block Treaty Settlement Trust chairman Sir Ngatata Love that no agreement existed for the waka to be moved from Te Maori Museum in Waiwhetu to the new wharewaka.
  11. Sharples – Kaitoko Whānau Launch scoop.co.nz, 29 October 2009
  12. Wellington Grand Final Programme Archived 2012-11-02 at the Wayback Machine rleague.com, 2 September 2002
  13. LOWER HUTT CITY (NAME OF CITY COUNCIL) BILL : Introduction New Zealand Parliamentary Debate, 15 August 1990
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