“Paiahahā! Paiahahā!
Tākiri te haeata ki runga Hikurangi ko te Tipi o Taikehu ko te tone o Haukū,
kei raro iho ko Waiapu kōkā huhua e hahae nei te whenua
e hahae te manawa o Te Whare Wānanga o Waikato
i te hinganga o Emeritus Professor Sir Tamati Muturangi Reedy Te Amokapua tuatahi o Te Pua Wānanga ki te Ao, Te Ihorangi Māori Pro Vice-Chancellor Māori tuatahi o Te Whare Wānanga o Waikato koia tēnei kua whai atu i a Reiri Tilly Te Koingo Reedy tōna hoa rangatira i moe anō ōna
kanohi itainanahi nei i te marama kua taha.
Nōreira te ikahuirua o te mate kua huihuia atu ki te apatira kahurangi ki te pō.
Nōreira e Tā, e te Ahorangi, e te kura nui o kura roa nā Tūhaepō,
kua tanuku te tihi o Hikurangi koa!
Paiahahā! Paihahā!
The dawn breaks upon Hikurangi, at the summits of Taikehu and Haukū,
below flows Waiapu, the river of many mothers, carving through the land,
and tearing also at the heart of Te Whare Wānanga o Waikato
at the passing of Emeritus Professor Sir Tamati Muturangi Reedy,
the first Amokapua of Te Pua Wānanga ki teo Ao,
the first Pro Vice-Chancellor Māori of the University of Waikato.
He has now followed his beloved wife, Lady Tilly Te Koingo Reedy, who closed her eyes in sleep just last month. Thus, the double tide of death has gathered them together into the assembly of chiefs into the night. Therefore, Emeritus Professor Sir
Tamati Muturangi Reedy, treasured one of
enduring legacy from the higher school of learning of Tūhaepō,
the peak of Hikurangi has been laid low.”
The University of Waikato is mourning the passing of acclaimed academic and former Pro Vice-Chancellor Māori, Tā Tamati Muturangi Reedy KNZM.
The Ngāti Porou leader, who passed away on Friday aged 89, was a highly respected member of the University community whose leadership helped shape Māori studies and its advancement from the late 1990s.
Tā Tamati embedded te ao Māori within the University and across the wider education sector. He was the founding Dean of Te Pua Wānanga ki te Ao, then the School of Māori and Pacific Development, now the Faculty of Māori and Indigenous Studies, in 1996.
He oversaw Committee on University Academic Programmes (CUAP) approval for an undergraduate degree in Māori and Pacific Development and brought the University’s marae graduation on campus, from Tūrangawaewae to Te Kohinga Mārama Marae.
At the first graduation ceremony at Te Kohinga Mārama Marae, Tā Tamati spoke about his work with University colleagues who had been commissioned to develop what would become Te Whāriki, launched in 2003 and the enduring foundation for early childhood education in New Zealand.
In 2000, he was appointed the University’s first Pro Vice-Chancellor Māori, providing institutional leadership on inclusion of tikanga and te reo Māori across the University. He established the Māori Academic Excellence Awards, and one of his final actions before his term concluded was to lead a contingent of University of Waikato staff onto Tūrangawaewae during the tangi of Te Arikinui Dame Te Atairangikaahu.
After completing a Bachelor of Arts and a Master of Arts with Honours in English at the University of Auckland, Tā Tamati began his career began as a teacher in primary and secondary schools before undertaking further study at the University of Hawai’i, where he earned a Master of Arts in Linguistics and a PhD.
A Fulbright scholar at the University of Alabama, Tā Tamati’s expertise in language revitalisation contributed to his appointment leading the Department of Māori Affairs (now Te Puni Kōkiri) in 1983.
During his tenure he passed the Māori Language Act 1987, establishing te reo Māori as an official language and creating the Māori Language Commission.
He was then deeply involved in the kōhanga reo movement, working with his wife Tilly on curriculum development and advocacy for immersion environments leading up to his appointment at the University.
Tā Tamati also served on the Waitangi Tribunal for six years from 2010 and, in 2011, was knighted for his services to education by future Chancellor of the University Sir Anand Satyanand.
Upon his retirement from the University in 2010, Tā Tamati was made the University’s first Māori Emeritus Professor.
University of Waikato Vice-Chancellor Professor Neil Quigley shared that on Sunday a small delegation including the Deputy Vice-Chancellor Māori and kaumātua for the University’s Tauranga campus attended the tangi at Hiruhārama Marae to pay respects on behalf of the University.
“Our flag is at half-mast as we mourn his passing along with many across New Zealand, and our thoughts are with his whānau,” Professor Quigley says.
