Ngāti Kahungunu kaumatua and Maori defender of te reo Enoka Munro dies at 89

Enoka Munro, an elder of Ngāti Kahungunu, a staunch defender of the Māori tea and a dedicated educator, died at the age of 89.

Munro, born December 12, 1930, died September 30.

He was raised in Munro’s home in Whakakī, Hawke’s Bay, and was the eldest of 15 children of Morehu Horomona and Raniera Munro.

He was encouraged to get a good education as a child.

Te reo Māori was the main language used in his home, along with the example of Tikanga Māori.

He was awarded a scholarship at the age of 14 and attended Te Aute College for four years.

Upon completion of the school certificate, he went on to Wellington Teachers’ College and became a dedicated educator and dedicated his life to the revitalization of the Maori tea.

He always promoted that “re reo Māori is the first and most important gift that we can give to our children along with aroha for our tīpuna and our taonga tuku iho”.

He began his career in education as a primary school teacher and spent 10 years in a handful of schools in the North Island, including a year at Hastings Pakipaki School.

This was followed by 15 years at the Department of Education in Christchurch, where he worked as an arts and crafts consultant (which included advising schools on Maori language programs), and then as a Maori and Pacific Islander education consultant, covering most of the South Island. .

Munro returned to the North Island in the late 1970s and returned to teaching, this time at the secondary level.

He taught social studies and Maori to high school students for almost seven years, the last two at his old school, Te Aute College.

Before accepting the Te Aute position, Munro worked as a cultural officer for the Department of Maori Affairs in Hastings.

Munro spent the rest of his working life teaching or mentoring teachers and schools, and he taught the Maori language and culture to inmates at Hawke’s Bay Prison.

In 2003, he assumed the position of commissioner at Maraenui School, Napier.

He firmly believed that the Maori language and culture are “an essential part of our New Zealand.”

In 2003, he told Hawke’s Bay Today that New Zealand, as “a mature nation, is going nowhere without taking the Maori with us.”

“Total immersion [kura kaupapa] and bilingual schools play an essential role in ensuring not only the resurgence but the survival of the Maori language and culture. “

In 2007, Enoka served as a member of the Ngāti Kahungunu Māori Education Advisory Group and has been involved in the iwi reo strategy ever since.

Munro’s funeral will take place on Saturday at Whakakī Marae.