Tireless worker for community and culture
Community leader, Te Reo advocate, educator
KARAKA Rapata’s passion for celebrating Maoridom in Dunedin was undoubted, but his hospitality extended to everyone.
Mr Rapata was always willing to help others, including people in prisons and mental health institutions.
While from the Far North, and proudly of Ngati Kuri descent, he was strongly involved in all matters Maori in Ngai Tahudominated Dunedin.
Te Runanga o Otakou kaumatua Edward Ellison said Mr Rapata celebrated Maori culture and wanted to share it.
‘‘He was an important part of the cultural fabric of Dunedin.’’
Karaka Rapata died on July 25, aged 90.
He was born in Kapowairua, Spirits Bay, at the tip of the North Island, on October 2, 1927. He was born under a karaka tree — after which he is named — while his family was harvesting kumara.
He was the youngest son of Rapata Hotorene and Maro Motu Hotorene and grew up in Te Hapua also at the tip of the North Island.
While attending Te Hapua Native School, his name was anglicised to Clark Roberts, although he later chose to use his birth name.
He attended Te Kao High School through a scholarship, but left after two years to care for his sick father.
He met his wife, Marie, in Rotorua, where she was training
as a nurse, in 1953. They moved to Dunedin in 1957 and married the next year at Holy Name Church.
Mrs Roberts said for her husband, there was ‘‘nothing more important than family’’, although he was there to help everyone.
‘‘He was a strong person. He was black and white — there were never any grey areas with him.
‘‘He was very generous with his time. Over the years, he received many calls, day and night, for cultural support and advice. He generously gave of his knowledge and language.’’
As a carpenter, he was involved in projects such as the building of the University of Otago Dental School, the extension to the Queen Mary Hospital and MLC building before working in maintenance for Speight’s Brewery.
Mr Rapata was central in the creation of the AraiTeUru marae in Maori Hill in the 1970s. It opened in 1980 as one of the country’s first urban marae. He served as vicechairman and was a member of its council and kaumatua of the marae until his death.
In the 1980s and 1990s, he was involved in the establishment of the first Maori Mobile Health Unit in New Zealand, Te Waka Hauora, and Wakari Hospital’s Maori Mental Health Service, Te Oranga Tonu Tanga.
He was a support visitor in social welfare homes, Dunedin Prison, Cherry Farm and Wakari and Dunedin hospitals and was community officer for what was then the Department of Maori Affairs.
R Rapata was a minister, an apotoro rehita, of the Ratana Church, officiating at services and advisory counselling sessions.
He was kaumatua for many organisations and institutions, including Kavanagh College, Otago Girls’ High School, the Dunedin College of Education, Aoraki Polytechnic, Otago Polytechnic, New Zealand Nurses Organisation Maori Caucus, Otago Maori Rugby League, ACC Dispute Resolution Services, Schizophrenia Fellowship Dunedin, and the Dunedin branch of New Zealand Foundation for the Blind.
As an avid gardener, he established several community gardens and was known as a skilled gatherer of kai moana.
In 1998, he was made a Companion of the Queen’s Service Order for services to the Maori community.
He was appointed an honorary member of Otepoti Maori Women’s Welfare League in 1976 and in 1992 he was acknowledged for his national contribution to the organisation.
Mr Ellison said Mr Rapata’s skill in te reo Maori became soughtafter as elders in the Dunedin area died.
He taught and translated the language in many forms, and taught Maori language from 1957 to 1983 through the AraiTeUru Maori Club.
MHe also judged Korimako and Manu Korero speech competitions for southern secondary schools in the 1980s and Te Puka a Maui cultural competitions in the 1980s’90s. In 1988, he was appointed a district court interpreter and became a Maori language adviser to the Otago Museum director.
In the 1970s, he taught te reo Maori at Otago Polytechnic, and in the 1980s he started teaching te reo and tikanga at the University of Otago.
From 1989 to 1994, he was Pou Awhina for the Department of Maori Studies at University of Otago.
Ngati Kuri kaumatua Graeme Neho said Mr Rapata never lost contact with his iwi.
‘‘Every opportunity he got, he would come north, for meetings and family functions. His presence was hugely respected.
‘‘He was the driving force behind how our iwi did a lot of its business. He was very supportive of the new marae we want to build and he left a legacy that we all admire. His oratory, how he spoke on the marae, was well respected.’’
To acknowledge the contribution Mr Rapata made to Ngai Tahu, Mr Ellison accompanied his whanau when they returned him to his papakainga in Te Hapua, where he is buried at Mareitu Urupa.
He is survived by his wife Marie, daughters Aroha Meikle, Marama Pohatu and Mereana RapataHanning, mokopuna, greatmokopuna and extended whanau. — Jono Edwards