Reverend Matiu Eru, Dr Haare Williams, Sarah Reo, Hare Paniora, and Archdeacon Wiremu Kaua are a part of the 2018 New Year Honours list for their contribution to Māori and education.
Reverend Matiu Eru: The Queen's Service Medal for services to Māori and education
Reverend Matiu Eru is a senior kaumātua of Ngāti Kahungunu and an Anglican Minister who has provided cultural guidance, leadership and services to the Hawke’s Bay community.
Reverend Eru has been senior kaumatua and Rangatira at both the Tangoio and Petane Marae since 1991.
He has been senior kaumatua for the Eastern District Police for the past eight years and designed and taught a Māori language course for Police staff for three years.
He is currently kaumatua of Eastern Institute of Technology’s Hawke’s Bay campus and holds the unpaid role of kaumatua of the School of Māori Studies.
Reverend Eru was a lecturer from 1997 to 2012 at the EIT School of Māori Studies and a tutor and senior advisor at Te Whare Takiura o Kahungunu in Napier. He's employed as the senior tikanga specialist for the Hawke’s Bay District Health Board and is responsible for all Māori ceremonial requests received by the DHB.
Dr Haare Williams: To be a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit For services to Māori, the arts and education
Dr Haare Williams is a teacher, artist, and broadcaster who has made a significant contribution throughout his career to bettering the educational attainment and social and cultural outcomes of Māori.
As an Executive Director of the New Zealand 1990 Commission, Dr Williams was responsible for waka construction and assembly at Waitangi for the 1990 commemorations.
He set up a joint venture with the South Seas Film and Television School to train te reo speakers as producers and operators in film and television. He taught at Unitec from 1994 to 2002, first as a tutor and then as Dean of Māori Education, before becoming the first Māori Advisor to the Chief Executive.
Williams has contributed to education through curricula development and broadening understanding around Te Ao Māori and the Treaty of Waitangi. He was a pioneer in Māori broadcasting as the General Manager of Aotearoa Radio.
He has worked closely with iwi claimant communities collecting and preparing iwi oral testimonies for presentation to the courts and the Waitangi Tribunal.
He has also published poetry, exhibited painting, and writes scripts and lyrics for film and television.
Dr Williams has worked as a cultural advisor for the Mayor of Auckland and has held the position of Amorangi at the Auckland War Memorial Museum since 2011.
Ms Sarah Reo: For services to Māori and education
Ms Sarah Reo is the co-founder of education provider Cultureflow established in 2002. Cultureflow developed innovative methods of delivering Te Reo and Tikanga Māori training programmes to encourage the uptake of Māori language amongst a new generation of learners.
In 2006 Reo co-founded Cultureflow China to use these technologies to deliver English language programmes in China.
In 2008 she adjusted the business strategy to include more one-on-one tailored learning for clients and the redesign of the online systems to allow programme facilitation from anywhere in the world. Cultureflow won Best Regional Business (Wellington) at the 2003 Māori Women’s Development Inc. awards, whilst also receiving the Westpac Chamber of Commerce Award in 2009.
She has contributed to Māori housing projects, mentoring programmes for young women, and employment programmes for the unemployed. Ms Reo is a Fulbright Platinum-Triangle Business Scholar, having graduated with an Executive Master of Business Administration degree from the University of Hawaii in 2017.
Image: Te Pūtahitanga o Te Waipounamu
Mr Hare Paniora: To be a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to Māori and education
Hare Paniora has worked in education in New Zealand for more than 55 years and is currently Māori Advisor at Unitec Institute of Technology in Auckland.
Paniora was instrumental in the development of Unitec’s Te Noho Kotahitanga (The Partnership – Māori and Pākehā working together) principles of practice in 2002. He was closely involved in the establishment of Te Noho Kotahitanga Marae at Unitec in 2009.
He has 25 years’ experience as a Principal of primary schools throughout the North Island. He was Senior Lecturer in Māori Studies for eight years at the Auckland College of Education.
In 2005 Paniora was appointed kaumātua of Te Whakamaharatanga Marae. He is often called upon to conduct blessings for the opening of new buildings and to bless places where deaths have occurred, offering these services at no charge.
He led a wānanga at his home Marae in Waimamaku in 2016 for 120 descendants on the history of the area, including tikanga marae, whai korero and karanga.
Within the wider community Mr Paniora has given voluntary service on various associations and committees for organisations such as Matamata Rotary Club, Waikato East Principal’s Association, and Lions Clubs in Rawene, Taumaranui and Kumeu.
Image: Waka Huia
Archdeacon Wiremu Kaua: To be an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to Māori, education and the State
Archdeacon Wiremu Kaua has had a long public service career across a variety of sectors for 40 years, has been an enduring proponent of Māori language and cultural education and a committed minister of the Anglican Church.
As the inaugural Group Manager Māori at the Ministry of Education he led various initiatives to immerse staff in Māori culture, compiled the Government's 10 Point Plan for Māori Education, and contributed to the establishment of Kura Kaupapa schools and three Wananga.
He has made significant contributions to the national Kohanga Reo movement, particularly assisting with increasing funding to the national trust to improve the teaching of Māori language. He has had a 38 year involvement with the Department of Māori Affairs and roles with the Ministry of Transport, the Crime Prevention Unit in the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet, and the Ministry of Justice.
He has been a cultural advisor to numerous agencies and organisations, notably through his involvement with Waitangi Tribunal hearings as a kaumātua for the lawyers of the Crown Law Office, and as kaumātua for PHARMAC since 2010 where he has led engagement with Whānau Ora Collectives and Māori health providers.
Archdeacon Kaua established a forum for the Chairs of a number of large East Coast land holdings to come together to plan collectively for the betterment of the region.