Pou Temara

Sir Pou Temara KNZM
Tā Pou Te Rangiua Temara
Temara in 2021
Born	William Te Rangiua Temara 1948 (age 77–78)
Academic background
Education	Victoria University of Wellington
Academic work
Discipline	Te reo Māori Tikanga Māori

Sir William Te Rangiua "Pou" Temara KNZM (born 1948) is a New Zealand academic. He was professor of Māori language and tikanga Māori (practices) at the University of Waikato, and is a cultural authority on whaikōrero (oratory), whakapapa (genealogy) and karakia (prayers and incantations). Prior to working at Waikato, he taught at Victoria University of Wellington, and at Te Whare Wānanga o Awanuiārangi. He is currently professor of Māori philosophy at Awanuiārangi. He is a member of the Ngāi Tūhoe iwi (tribe).

Early life

Temara was born in 1948, the son of George Temara, a WWII veteran of the Māori Battalion, and Puti (Nani) Tinimēne. He was his mother's first child and so, as was common Māori practice in those times, was raised by her parents, Tamahou Tinimēne and Pareraututu. When he was about 10 months old, his grandparents and he moved from Ruatāhuna to a small clearing in the Te Urewera forest between Maungapōhatu and Rūātoki, where there was just the three of them. They lived in a dwelling made of forest materials, with an earth floor, where, in observance of tapu, they did not eat inside, but cooked and ate in a lean-to outside. When he was eight years old, and having spoken only Māori, they moved back to Ruatāhuna, where he attended Huiarau Native School and learnt English for the first time. When he was 15, he went to Wesley College in Auckland as a boarder. He did teacher training at the Wellington College of Education, then studied at Victoria University of Wellington, during which time he also worked at the Gear Meat Company works in Petone. His uncle Makarini Temara was on the first Waitangi Tribunal in 1975.

Professional life

Temara has been a member of the Waitangi Tribunal since 2008 and is currently chair of the Repatriation Advisory Panel at Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa. He is a member of the Tūhoe Waikaremoana Māori Trust Board and chair of Te Hui Ahurei a Tūhoe within his iwi (tribe), Ngāi Tūhoe. He is a member of the Tekau-mā-rua, having first been appointed by Kīngi Tūheitia.

Honours

In the 2016 Queen's Birthday Honours, Temara was appointed a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit, for services to Māori and education. In the 2021 New Year Honours, he was promoted to Knight Companion. He is a Companion of the Royal Society of New Zealand.

References