Piripi Walker

Ngāti Raukawa

1955 -

Piripi Walker was born in Wellington and was educated at St Peter’s and St. Paul’s Convent, Lower Hutt, St Bernard’s Primary School and St Patrick’s College, Silverstream. From 1975-76 he was Assistant Executive Officer for the New Zealand Manufacturers’ Federation. In 1981 he gradutated with a B.A. (Hons) in Māori Studies from Victoria University. Walker tutored in Māori Studies at Victoria University in 1981 and from 1982 has been an occasional tutor at Te Wananga o Raukawa. He was an Otaki and Porirua Trusts Board Hui tutor for Rangatahi from 1981-83 and was Assistant Director for Te Wananga o Raukawa Immersion Hui Walker was a Māori language radio producer for Radio New Zealand from 1982-87 and he trained Māori radio broadcasters from He was manager for Te Upoko o te Ika Radio Station from 1987-1991 and was a Māori negotiator for the Māori Broadcasting Treaty Claims from He is secretary of Ngaa Kaiwhakapumau i te Reo (The Wellington Māori Language Board) and from 1983-1991 was a member of the Board. In 1990 he was a member of the Māori Radio Federation Board. Until recently he lectured at Te Wananga o Raukawa in Otaki. From 1983 to the present, he has written various articles on Māori treaty claims, Māori politics and Māori language and broadcasting for the New Zealand Listener, The Dominion, The Evening Post, New Zealand Herald.

Biographical sources

  • Interview and correspondence with Piripi Walker in August 1992 and 18 August 1998.
  • Walker, Piripi. "Runanga Radio Lures The Listeners." Tu Tangata 33 (1986/87): 16-17.

    Music

  • He Waiata Maa Ngaa Tamariki Nohinohi: Songs for Very Young Children. Comp. Piripi Walker. Ed. Kathryn Irvine. Wellington, N.Z.: Continuing Education Unit Radio New Zealand, 1984.
  • A collection of twenty-five songs written in Māori and English with an accompanying tape which Walker states are ‘aimed specifically at people learning and teaching Maāori, for use with young children.’ The composers include Henerietta Maxwell, Hirini Moko Mead, Moehau Reedy, Ihaia Puketapu, kuia and kaumaatua of Pukeatua Koohanga Reo, and Frances Maxwell. A glossary is included.

    • Non-fiction

  • "Runanga Radio Lures The Listeners." Tu Tangata 33 (Dec. 86/Jan. 87): 16-17.
  • Walker presents an account of two ventures into Māori broadcasting: Te Reo o Poneke and Te Reo o Raukawa and assesses why they were so successful. Walker asserts that successful Māori broadcasting should be based on five key principles: ‘1. It is independent. 2. It will have control of an entire television channel or regional radio frequencies. 3. Its constitution and management structures are governed by Māori values, and are accountable to the Māori community. 4. It is loyal to Māori language as the people wage war for its survival. 5. It is supported by a financial base from our licence fees within the BCNZ.’
  • "Tai Timu Tai Pare." Listener Sept./Oct. 1982:
  • "Ko Ngaa Taonga o Ngāti Raukawa, Toa, Te Atiawa." Catalogue of Tara Werner Oral Literature Collection, 1984. No further details.
  • "Māori Challenge Unanswered." Dominion 10 May 1987. No further details.
  • Walker writes a critique of the National and Labour Parties’ response or lack of response to Māori issues and concerns. He notes the inequities surrounding the Parliamentary Māori seats and the unwillingness of both political parties to ‘initiate constitutional reform’ in response to the recommendations of the 1986 Royal Commission on the Electoral System which ‘urged a major examination of the constitutional position of the Māori people’.
  • Māori Views on the Radio Spectrum. A report prepared for NZ Māori Council and Nga Kaiwhakapumau i te Reo, 1989.
  • "Outlook: Te Upoko o Te Ika - 783 KHZ - Wellington, N.Z. Māori Radio Station." Dominion 4 June 1991: 31.
  • Co-authors Piripi Walker and Don Roy.
  • "Station’s Closure Would Be Tragedy." Evening Post 4 June 1992.
  • "Hirini Melbourne: A Tribute." Music in New Zealand 24 (Autumn 1994): 22-24.

  • Other

  • "Te Wānanga o Raukawa Calendar." No details.
  • "Claim on Te Reo Māori." Wai 11. 1985, Nga Kaiwhakapumau I Te Reo.
  • "Aotearoa Broadcasting Systems (ABS Application for Third Television Channel Licence)." 1985.
  • Co-authored with Whatarangi Winiata and Derek Fox.
  • "A Global Approach to Māori Radio Development." 1985 Written by David Hay with advice and editorial contributions from Piripi Walker and Whatarangi Winiata, for the New Zealand Māori Council in consultations with Radio New Zealand over the establishment of Aotearoa Māori Radio, 1985,
  • Reports on Te Reo o Raukawa 1985/1986.
  • Reports on Experimental Māori Radio Stations in the Horowhenua.Tu Tangata (1986).
  • "Māori Views on the Radio Spectrum." 1989.
  • Research paper on behalf of the New Zealand Māori Council and Nga Kaiwhakapumau i Te Reo 1989 for spectrum negotiations.
  • "AM and FM." Waitangi Tribunal Hearing. 1990.
  • A paper prepared for the Waitangi Tribunal Hearing into a claim by Nga Kaiwhakapumau i Te Reo on the sale of radio frequencies.
  • "AM and FM." Waitangi Tribunal Hearings on Radio Spectrum. 1991.
  • "The Guardianship of Indigenous Languages." International Indigenous Conf. on Education. Wollongong, NSW, Austral. Dec. 1993.
  • A paper initially prepared for the Conference on Higher Education for Indigenous Peoples at the University of British Columbia, presented by proxy by Pakake Winiata.
  • "He Kōrero mo Kapiti Motu." Na Hone Barrett, na Piripi Walker i whakamāori. [Writ. Hone Barrett. Māori trans. Piripi Walker]. Te Tautoko 25. Wellington, N.Z.: Learning Media, 1995. 2-9.
  • "Fixing the Flaws in Iwi Radio." 1996.
  • Research Paper prepared for Crown Māori Joint Working Party on Māori Broadcasting.
  • "Te Rata Kaura Nui, The Life and Work of Wiremu Parker, Māori Scholar and Broadcaster." Stout Memorial Research Lecture, Stout Centre, Victoria University, Wellington, N.Z. Apr. 1997.
  • Also rewritten as entry in Dictionary of New Zealand Biography (Vol 5).

    • Papers/Presentations

  • "Me Pewhea To Reo Māori E Ora Ai?" Massey University Public Affairs Series Discussion Paper. Palmerston North, N.Z., 1995.

  • Reviews

  • "You Are My Darling Zita." Rev. of Life Histories, ed. Peter Busch. No details.
  • "Books." Rev. of Regaining Aotearoa: Māori writers speak out, ed. by Witi Ihimaera (and others). Listener 19 June 1993. 53-54.
  • "Shock of the New." Review of Te Ao Marama: Vol. 3 Te Puawaitanga o te Korero. Comp. and ed. Witi Ihimaera. Listener 26 Feb. 1994: 52-53.
  • "Friendship With Ancestors." Rev. of First Light, by Carol O’Biso. Listener 17 Sept. 1994. 50-51.
  • "Under The Moutain." Rev. of Poi E: The Musical by Patea Māori Club at the State Opera House in Wellington, N.Z. Listener 4 Feb 1995. 48.
  • Rev. of Nga Tangata Taumata Rau, 1870-1900. (Māori Language Version), The Turbulent Years 1870-1900, by Bridget Williams Books and the Dictionary of New Zealand Biography. Listener 4 Feb. 1995: 52-54.
  • "A Doctor’s Life." Rev. of Dr Golan Maaka, by Bradford Haami. Listener 10 Feb. 1996: 47.
  • "1997 Radio Documentary series in Māori (broadcast nationally on iwi radio network) on the life of famous Māori scholar and broadcaster Wiremu Parker." No details

  • Sound recordings

  • "Us on Shore" and "The Waitangi Tribunal Goes to Taranaki." A series of documentaries on the Te Atiawa Motunui Waitangi Tribunal claims, National Radio, 1982.
  • "Te Teo Tuku Iho." Series of six documentaries on the life of various kaumatua, all speakers of endangered dialects in the Māori language. Prod. Piripi Walker. National Radio. 1982.
  • "Toi te Reo." Series of programmes featurng kaumatua, and speakers of disappearing dialects. 1986.
  • Te Māori: Te Hokinga Mai/The Return Home: Resource Kit, 1986/87. Text and trans. Dept. of Māori Studies, U of Victoria. Photography Brian Brake and Athol McCredie. Audio programme prod. Piripi Walker and narrated by Kinio Winiata. [Auckland, N.Z.]: Auckland City Art Gallery on behalf of the Te Māori Management Committee and the Dept. of Education, Wellington, 1986.
  • This resource kit, produced to accompany the Te Māori exhibitions in the four main centres during 1986-1987, includes a set of postcards, an audio tape prepared by Piripi Walker of Radio New Zealand and copied by EMI, and bi-lingual notes prepared by the Department of Māori Studies, Victoria Univerity.

    • Waitangi Tribunal

  • "The Need For Māori Radio." Affidavits and Reports Prepared for Te Reo Claim Waitangi Tribunal Hearing, 1983.