Hohua Tutengaehe grew up in Matakana Rangiwaea Island and was educated at Matakana Primary School and at St Stephen’s College, Bombay, Auckland. He worked on the railways where he was an assistant guard. He worked for Forest Products in Kinley and then he went to Malaya and served in the New Zealand Armed Forces in the early 1960s. He was active in pig hunting and deer stalking in the North and South Islands. When he returned, he went back to Forest Products and then moved to Christchurch and worked as a storeman at Lane Walker Rudkin. He was a prison officer at Paparoa Prison and was a Liaison Officer at Christchurch Polytechnic where he also worked as a tutor in Multi-Cultural Studies. He was a member of the Justice Department’s National Parole Board and was on the NZ Health Research Council’s Māori Health committee. He was Kaumatua of the New Zealand Qualifications Authority and he was on the Board of the National Library. He was on the Board of Nga Hau e Wha at one stage. He has worked with young people at Nga Hau E Wha National Marae and worked with ex-prisoners. In 1990 he was awarded CMG for services to the Māori people and community. He was the Kaumatua and Rangātira of the Te Whatu-Manawa-Māoritanga-O-Rehua Marae and Otatahi Sports Club. In 1985 he was appointed Kaumatua of Christchurch Polytechnic. He was Chair of Matawaka Runanga Waipounamu from 1987. He was an orator and had a commanding presence; he was of the old style of oratory and as such had a wonderful command of the English language. He could move in both the Māori world where he was unquestionably an orator of renown, and in the English world where he commanded the respect of politicians and prime ministers. He was a leading figure on overseas responsibilities. He was involved with Te Māori in the United States. He spoke on health, education, prisons, and women’s affairs at different conferences. He acted as a liaison person, as a leader, as an adviser, as a counsellor and social worker.
Biographical sources
- Phone conversation with Marina Hughes on 7 Sept. 1998.
- “1990 Queen’s Birthday Honours.” Te Iwi o Aotearoa 34 (1990): 20.
- Tutengaehe, Hohua. “A Māori View of Māoridom: Past and Present.” Race Gender Class 2 (1985): 59.