He "is a respected elder with a history of community service on behalf of the iwi Māori. His waiata, ‘Kua Whiua’, is a classically composed prayer which exhorts us all to guard our identity."
Biographical sources
- Te Ao Mārama: Contemporary Māori Writing. Comp. and ed. Witi Ihimaera. Contributing ed. Haare Williams, Irihapeti Ramsden and D. S. Long. Vol. 5: Te Torino: The Spiral. Auckland, N.Z.: Reed, 1996. 21.
Other
- Tu Tangata 8 (1982): 33.
- Stirling challenges the editor of Tu Tangata to include more South Island material in the magazine, noting that 8% of the total Māori population live in the South Island and therefore within a 40-page magazine ‘there should be at least three pages extolling the virtues of living down south.’
Poetry
- "Ka Pā tō Hoe/ The Oar Strikes. " English trans. Te Aomuhurangi Temamaka Jones. The Penguin Book of Contemporary New Zealand Poetry/Ngā Kupu T˚tohu o Aotearoa. Ed. Miriama Evans, Harvey McQueen and Ian Wedde. Auckland, N.Z.: Penguin, 1989. 484-485.
- In this poem of welcome the speaker declares in the form of questions and answers that Takitimu is the canoe, Kai Tahu is the people, and Tahu Potiki is the chief of Aoraki.
- "Kua Whiua/ I Have Sent." English trans. Te Aomuhurangi Temamaka Jones. The Penguin Book of Contemporary New Zealand Poetry/NgāKupu T˚tohu o Aotearoa. Ed. Miriama Evans, Harvey McQueen and Ian Wedde. Auckland, N.Z.: Penguin, 1989. 483-484. Rpt in Māori only in Te Ao Mārama: Contemporary Māori Writing. Comp. and ed. Witi Ihimaera. Contributing ed. Haare Williams, Irihapeti Ramsden and D. S. Long. Vol. 5: Te Torino: The Spiral. Auckland, N.Z.: Reed, 1996. 21.
- The speaker calls his people to ‘raise / [their] mana / up high so that / it may not be destroyed’ and to ‘cleave to love’.