Staunch activist Te Ringa Mangu (Dun) Mihaka (Ngāpuhi) died on Monday night, a whānau spokesperson confirmed in a post online. He was 81.
Mihaka became renowned in the 1970s and 1980s as a fearless advocate for Māori rights and was a pivotal figure in making te reo Māori an official language in Aotearoa.
In particular, Māori Land Court judge Alana Thomas (Ngāpuhi) said he played an important role in normalising te reo Māori within the courtroom.
“Koia pea i para i te huarahi mō ngā tāngata pērā i au, pērā i ngā rōia kaha ki te kōrero i te reo Māori i ngā kōti (He paved the way for people like me, [us] lawyers who speak te reo Māori in the courts).”
Fellow Māori activist Tame Iti (Ngāi Tūhoe) said Mihaka had long fought for Māori rights.
“He tangata kore ia e mataku te tuku i ōna whakaaro i roto i ngā tau... neke atu i te 50 tau (He was someone that wasn’t afraid to voice his opinions over the years... for over 50 years).”
The fight to use te reo in the courts
In 1979, Mihaka was ordered to attend the District Court over an offence. He requested to only speak te reo Māori during the judicial proceedings but was rejected by the judge.
Speaking to 1News in 2022, Mihaka said he did it anyway.
“I claimed my right to te reo and simply spoke. People wanted to extinguish it... of course, they couldn’t.”
The request was taken to the High Court, then to the Court of Appeal where it was ruled that Mihaka had to speak English during court proceedings.
Though Mihaka had lost the case, it had formed the basis of a much larger Waitangi Tribunal report that investigated the decline of the Māori language and ways in which te reo Māori could be revitalised. This was known as the landmark WAI11 Te Reo Māori claim.
The act of whakapohane
Mihaka had a strong distaste towards the royal family. This couldn’t have been more evident when the then Prince Charles and Princess Diana visited the country in 1983.
Mainstream New Zealand remember him most for performing a whakapohane – the traditional act of bearing one’s buttocks to another group as an insult – in front of the royal limousine carrying the couple at Wellington Airport.
He later became an author, writing about his account in court following the act.
An autobiography on Mihaka, titled Ki Te Whei-ao, Ki Te Ao-marama, was also published in 1989.
His tūpāpaku is set to return from Wellington to his marae of Parawhenua, Ōhaeawai, on Wednesday morning.
Glossary
whakapohane - traditional act of bearing one’s buttocks as an insult
tūpāpaku - deceased body
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