Raglan author, Kāterina Te Heikōkō Mataira has been made a Dame Commander of the NZ Order of Merit in the 2011 QUEEN’S BIRTHDAY HONOURS for services to the Maori language.
Kāterina Mataira has written several ground-breaking novels in Maori including Te Atea, Makorea and Rehua along with award-winning children’s books Maui and the Big Fish, Marama Taniweto and Nga Mokonui a Rangi. In 2010 her Maori translation of the book, Hu-Hu Koroheke, was highly praised. The Awards’ Te Reo Māori Advisor, Paora Tibble said Hū-Hū Koroheke was an excellent translation from the “Super Nanny of te ao Māori.”
Maori Affairs Minister Dr Pita Sharples said the honour bestowed on Dame Katerina was a tribute to more than 40 years of leadership and scholarship in the Maori language revival movement.
78 year old Kāterina was educated at St Joseph’s Māori Girls College in Napier and trained as a teacher and art educator. She established the first Māori language class in a state school at Northland College in Kaikohe in 1956. In 1958 she was part of a movement of Northland art educators that presented the first exhibition of contemporary Māori Art.
Kāterina has been at the forefront of Māori language revival and teaching for many years. In 1985 she helped set up the first Māori language immersion school, Kura Kaupapa Māori at Hoani Waititi Marae in Auckland, and co-authored Te Aho Matua – the philosophy and charter for kaupapa Māori schools. In 1987 she was appointed a foundation member of the Māori Language Commission. In 1996 she was made an Honorary Doctor at the University of Waikato. She has published a number of award winning picture books in Māori for children. However, her ground-breaking work has been the writing of novels in Māori – Te Atea (1975), Makorea (2002) and Rehua (2006).
In 1998 Kāterina was awarded the Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit in recognition of her contribution to New Zealand. She lives with her husband, Junior Te Ratu Karepa in Raglan where she continues to write books for children. She has eight children, 29 grandchildren and four great grandchildren. Kāterina’s son, Pita, an artist, has illustrated some of her books, continuing Kāterina’s tradition, as she was first published as an illustrator.