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Gabrielle Rikihana

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New Zealand teacher and community leader

Gabrielle Rikihana
AwardsSir Kingi Ihaka Award
Academic background
Alma materMassey University
Thesis

Gabrielle Mary Rikihana (born circa 1927) is a New Zealand teacher and community leader. In 2020 she was awarded the Sir Kingi Ihaka Award, which recognises a lifetime contribution.

Academic career

Rikihana is Māori, and affiliates to Ngāti Raukawa. Rikihana trained as a teacher in Wellington and taught at Foxton School. She then travelled to England for the Coronation, spending two years there. She taught in schools in London and travelled to Spain and Norway, as well as attending the unveiling of a memorial to soldiers who died at El Alamein during World War II but had no known graves. Before she returned to New Zealand in 1955, Rikihana wrote a radio play for the BBC Home Service called Life in a Maori Village.

Rikihana completed a Master's degree with a thesis titled Invariance: a study of some conserving behaviours in young children in 1972 at Massey University. After compulsory retirement as a teacher at the age of sixty, she was persuaded to become involved at Te Wānanga o Raukawa.

Rikihana is a Waitangi Tribunal claimant for Ngāti Korokī. During the tribunal hearings, she described the land lost to her hapu “We have virtually no land of commercial value. Alongside Ngāti Pareraukawa and Ngāti Hikitanga, we are the most landless hapū of the inquiry district. We hold only the shadow of the land." The hapu are claiming for the return of the old Ōtaki maternity hospital and surrounding land.

In 2020 Rikihana was awarded the Sir Kingi Ihaka Award by Creative New Zealand, which is awarded "to kaumātua/kuia in recognition of their contribution to strengthening the continuity of Māori culture through their support of ngā Toi Māori".

References

  1. ^ "Final Waitangi Tribunal hearings start at Raukawa in Ōtaki". Te Ao Māori News. Retrieved 19 December 2024.
  2. ^ Creative New Zealand (16 December 2020). Gabrielle Rikihana - Te Waka Toi Awards 2020. Retrieved 19 December 2024 – via YouTube.
  3. ^ "These Maoris are seeking knowledge abroad". Te Ao Hou. September 1955. p. 19. Retrieved 19 December 2024.
  4. Eunson, Keith (4 April 1955). "London Letter Ships to Dominion are fully booked". The Press. p. 10. Retrieved 19 December 2024.
  5. Rikihana, Gabrielle Mary (1972). Invariance: a study of some conserving behaviours in young children (Master's thesis). Massey Research Online, Massey University.
  6. "Hāpū holds 'only the shadow of the land'". Otaki Today. 18 June 2024. Retrieved 19 December 2024.
  7. ^ "Ōtaki hapū to have their say at Waitangi Tribunal hearing". Manawatu Standard, Stuff. 30 May 2024. Retrieved 19 December 2024.
  8. "Te Waka Toi Awards". creativenz.govt.nz. Retrieved 18 December 2024.
  9. "Excellence celebrated in the 2020 Te Waka Toi Awards". creativenz.govt.nz. Retrieved 18 December 2024.
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