Hone Te Ihi Ngata

Hone Ngata was born in Waipiro Bay and was educated at Whakaangiangi Primary School, Kaiti School, Ormond School, Te Karaka District High School and St Stephen’s School. In the 1960s he studied Māori Studies and Anthropology at Tamaki Whare Wananga. Ngata worked as a foreman for Watties Canneries in Gisborne and then worked in the Labour Department and the Māori Affairs Department. Ngata was a social worker for the Department of Social Welfare in Gisborne and Tauranga for sixteen years. He was a co-ordinator for the Hikoi Ki Waitangi in 1984. In 1991 Ngata suffered a stroke which brought him back to his mana and reo. Since that time he has worked for Moana AM iwi radio in Tauranga. Ngata is kaiako at Te Pura-Ngāti Kahu Kohanga Reo and teaches te reo Māori. Over the last two years Ngata and his wife Maxine have conducted a series of hui around Tauranga on behalf of the Ngaiterangi on the subject of prevention of whanau abuse. They are also involved in counselling in Tauranga Moana and in 1997 they spoke on a panel at the Confronting Suicide Conference in Thunder Bay, Canada, organised by native communities in North Ontario. Ngata has five tamariki, one son and four daughters, and has a strong belief in rangatahi Māori. He states: "We must make room for Māori youth and give them the space to show their potential." Ngata also maintains that all Māori men need to be seen as positive role models for Māori young people. He has written poetry and is jointly contracted to produce a book with a Cree Indian woman who has also suffered stroke.

Biographical sources

• Phone conversation with Hone Ngata, 5 August 1998.