Whina Cooper

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Whina Cooper during the Māori land march in 1975

Dame Whina Cooper ONZ , DBE , (born December 9, 1895 in Te Karaka , Far North District , Northland , New Zealand , as Josephine Te Wake ; † March 26, 1994 in Panguru , Far North District , New Zealand) was an activist, symbolic figure of the Māori Land Rights Movement and founding president of the Māori Women’s Welfare League .

Life

Childhood and adolescence

Josephine Te Wake was born on the floor of a kitchen. Her father was Heremia Te Wake , chief of the Ngati Manawa and Te Kaitutae hapū ( clan ) of Te Rarawa and the son of an American whaler. Her mother, only 15 years old when she was born, was Kare Pauro Kawatihi of Te Rarawa and a descendant of the Taranaki . Josephine was the first child from her father's second marriage, who was 67 years old when she was born. Her birth is said to have been dramatic. First believed dead and quickly as a boy named Josephbaptized, her first breath came very late. After her father realized his mistake, he changed her name from Joseph to Josephine . She herself later only used the Maori abbreviation of her name with Whina . Whina had a sister, Heretute , two years her junior , and four half-brothers and three half-sisters from her father's first marriage.

Whina received her training in Māori culture and Catholic faith from her father at a young age . She attended the area's native school six miles away at the age of seven , took an early interest in history and genealogy, and in 1907, with financial support from James Carrol , Minister for Māori Affairs , who was a friend of her father's, was able to organize the St Joseph's Māori Girls' Go to college in Napier .

First marriage

When she returned to her parents' home in 1911, she refused a marriage arranged by her father to Tureiti Te Heuheu Tukino V , a widowed chief of the Ngati Tuwharetoa . On May 10, 1917, she secretly married Richard Gilbert from Ngunguru , which led to a conflict with the family: she was cast out by her siblings for this. When her parents died in 1918, her mother in June and her father in November, she and her husband Richard were thrown out of their parents' home by their eldest brother, but remained on the family's land in Te Karake . Her daughter was born in 1918 and a son in 1919.

In 1932, while working together on a development project, she met her future second husband, William Turakiuta Cooper . Although she was still married and her husband developed cancer, she had a love affair with Cooper . When her husband died of cancer in March 1935, she was already pregnant by Cooper .

Second marriage

The announcement shortly after Richard's death that he would marry Cooper shocked the Church and the Māori community, in which she was very active and recognized. She left the community and moved to Kamo with Cooper . Her association with Cooper resulted in four children. On February 21, 1941, they finally got married in Otiria and moved to Panguru , their old homeland. The family had a tough time in the community, but Cooper's community involvement eventually prevailed.

living on your own

Cooper's second husband died in August 1949 . She sold part of her land and gave the rest to the descendants of her family. She herself moved to Gray Lynn , in a suburb to the west of Auckland City . When she was awarded the CBE of the Order of the British Empire in 1974, she told an Auckland Star reporter that her public life was over because of her poor health. But it should turn out differently (see #Political Action ). In 1983 she went back to Panguru on Hokianga Harbor .

She died there at the age of 98 on March 26, 1994. Several thousand people attended the Tangihanga (German: rite for the dead ) and their funeral. More than a million people watched the funeral ceremony broadcast on New Zealand television.

Professional career

Whina Cooper started her professional career in 1911 at the age of 16 in the business of a local cooperative . In 1913 she went to the Pawarenga Native School in the southern area of Whangape Harbor as a trainee teacher . But the work frustrated her, so a year later she took a housekeeping position in the Catholic rectory in Rawene and stayed there for two years.

In 1916 she went back to her parents' house and continued to work in the local cooperative. After marrying Richard Gilbert , she worked hard on a kauri rubber plantation to support the family.

When a new pastor came to the parish in 1920, he recognized her skills and loaned her money to set up a store . She took her chance and in just three years developed a thriving business through which she could repay all of her debts. Cooper combined her business with her social and political engagement and quickly became a leader in the local church and community.

Political activity

Whina Cooper's first political engagement began in 1913 at the age of 18, when she was the leader of an environmental activist group who fought for the preservation of a mudflat area in her home country. The area, which was subject to the alternation of ebb and flow, was used by the Maori to harvest seafood . When a white farmer tried to dry out the wetland , the group under their leadership actively ensured that water could run into the biotope again and again . Although it was due to trespassing charged, but reached their group that the lease of the wetland from the Marine Department was reversed.

Local work

After the opportunity to build up her business, she immediately became politically active in addition to her social commitment in the community. In 1923 she called a meeting in her community with the aim of changing the name of the place from Whakarapa to Panguru due to the possibility of confusion . She founded the New Zealand Farmers' Union and became its first female president as a woman. She quickly became a leader in the Church and the community.

Cooper played hockey and coached rugby and basketball , trained a committee of women to organize gatherings and fundraising campaigns, and, frustrated by the conventions in the Māori community where women were not allowed to speak in gatherings, opened a community center called it Parish Hall . She founded a hospital and relocated everything around her business. So she took the traditional role and functions of a marae in the community and was in 1930s as Māori - Chief unchallenged.

In 1929, as Minister of Māori Affairs, Apirana Ngata made it possible by changing the law that Māori could borrow public funds for development measures . Cooper seized the opportunity, invited the Minister in August 1932, and organized eleven development projects covering 98,000 acres of land. She was appointed official supervisor for two of the projects and the unofficial advisor for the other nine. Nine months later, with the visit of then Prime Minister George William Forbes , she got a public for her showcase projects, with which she became known throughout New Zealand.

After marrying William Turakiuta Cooper , she resigned from all her offices due to public pressure.

Working at the state level

Te Whare Runang in Waitangi

Whina Cooper was back on the public scene in February 1940 when she arranged the hospitality for the opening of the Te Whare Runanga meeting house in Waitangi .

With the outbreak of World War II , she organized fundraising for the Māori War Effort Organization , which supported the 28th Infantry Battalion , founded in October 1939 and consisting entirely of Māori .

In September 1951 she was elected first president at the founding conference of the Māori Women’s Welfare League , which she had played a key role in bringing about. This gave her a position that she filled with all her strength and energy. One of the first initiatives of the organization, initiated by her, was the investigation of the life situations of the Māori in Auckland , which ultimately led to an improvement in their housing situation. The League also made the deficits in education, crime and racial discrimination in the workplace, in the health system and in the housing situation public. As one of the first nationally organized MāoriOrganizations were for the first time taken seriously their objections and submissions by politicians and government authorities.

Whina Cooper traveled across the country and established local and regional divisions. In 1956 the organization had more than 300 subdivisions, 88 so-called District Councils (district councils ) and more than 4,000 members. In 1957, however, she was asked to withdraw, as she partially worked past the bodies of the organization and overlooked them; but at the 1958 annual conference she was honored by the organization as Te Whaea o te Motu (Mother of the Nation). She became the most famous Māori woman in New Zealand.

In 1963 she stood as an independent for the Māori Electorate Northern Māori to the parliamentary elections, but only reached sixth place. In 1968 she organized a parade in Carlaw Park in Auckland on Waitangi Day to demonstrate to Māori and Pākehā the importance of the Treaty of Waitangi .

Māori land march of 1975

Although Cooper had 1,974 already announced that it intends to withdraw from public life, and although she was health already compromised, they could be after some initial resistance to the campaign to secure the land rights of Māori and against the expropriation and land acquisition of Māori place of birth of the organization Te Roopu Ote Matakite ( German : The people with vision ), newly founded in February 1975, as an activist and leader.

The protest march, well prepared for months, started on September 14, 1975 in Te Hapua , on the northern tip of New Zealand, with Whina Cooper , 79 years old, in the front row. After a walk of more than 1000 km, all the way down to Wellington , Whina Cooper, at the head of the 5,000-strong protest march and under the eyes of a large audience, reached the Parliament building on October 13, 1975 and with her fellow campaigners presented the Memorial of Right with over 200 Signatures of the elders of all Māori tribes in New Zealand and around 60,000 signatures collected on the 29-day march.

Your last public appearance

On January 24, 1990, Whina Cooper spoke at the opening ceremony of the 14th Commonwealth Games in Auckland in front of what is probably the largest audience: " Let us all remember that the Treaty was signed so that we could all live as one nation in Aotearoa " (German: Let us remember that the contract was signed so that we can all live as one nation in Aotearoa (New Zealand) ).

Awards

literature

  • Michael King: Whina - A Biography of Whina Cooper . Hodder and Stoughton , Auckland 1983, ISBN 0-340-33873-3 (English).

Web links

Commons : Whina Cooper  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Michael King: Whina  - A Biography of Whina Cooper . Hodder and Stoughton , Auckland 1983, Chapter 2 - Her Father's Daughter, pp. 35 (English).
  2. ^ Maori War Effort Organization 1942–1945 . In: New Zealand History . Ministry for Culture & Heritage , accessed July 5, 2010 .
  3. ↑ Dame Whina Cooper’s story . nzgirl Ltd, Auckland , accessed July 14, 2010 .
  4. ^ Adult Award Winner in 1989 . Global 500 Forum , accessed on January 22, 2016 .
  5. ^ New Zealand Honors . Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet , archived from the original on June 29, 2009 ; accessed on May 23, 2019 (English, original website no longer available).
personal data
SURNAME Cooper, Whina
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Te Wake, Josephine
SHORT DESCRIPTION New Zealand activist, symbolic figure of the "Māori Land Rights Movement" and founding president of the "Māori Women's Welfare League"
DATE OF BIRTH December 9, 1895
PLACE OF BIRTH Te Karaka , New Zealand
DATE OF DEATH March 26, 1994
Place of death Panguru , New Zealand