Monita Eru Delamere

Te Whānau a Apanui, Ngāi Tahu, Te Aitanga a Māhaki, Ngāti Porou

1921 - 1993

Monita Delamere was born in Omaio and served in the Māori Battalion during World War II. From 1946-49 he was a Māori All Black. He farmed in Ōpōtiki and later worked for 25 years in a business in Kawerau. He was a Ringatu spiritual leader and minister since the 1950s. In 1961 he was appointed a JP and in 1979 he returned to Ōpōtiki where he was secretary of the Whakatōhea Trust. Delamere was knighted in 1990 for services to the Māori people and was a member of the Waitangi Tribunal. He was recognised as an authority on Māori law, custom, history and religion.

Biographical sources

  • Phone conversation with Lady Mary Delamere, 13 August, 1998.
  • Te Māori News 2.7 (1993): 3.

    Music

  • "Te Pire mō te Reo Māori/ The Bill for the Māori Language." Written in Māori with English Translation by Monita Delamere. 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. 133-139. 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. 1: Te Whakahuatanga O Te Ao: Reflections of Reality. Auckland, N.Z.: Reed, 1992. 105-108.
  • Quoting two Biblical passages from Proverbs 4: 1-14 and Psalm 85, Delamere calls on the Māori rangātira representing the Pire mō te Reo Māori Bill to "be strong...steadfast... [and] to watch over the language carefully and all things Māori." He also contends that there should be a representative from one of the Māori churches on the commission.
  • "Karanga rā." Waitangi: Māori and Pākehā Perspectives of the Treaty of Waitangi. Auckland, N.Z.: Oxford UP, 1989. Rpt in Comp. and ed. Witi Ihimaera. Contributing ed. Haare Williams, Irihapeti Ramsden and D. S. Long. Vol. 1: Te Whakahuatanga O Te Ao: Reflections of Reality. Auckland, N.Z.: Reed, 1992. 105.
  • This waiata written in Māori was composed for the Waitangi Tribunal and was first sung at the Muriwhenua hearing at Te Hapua, December 1986. [Ref. Te Ao Mārama: Contemporary Māori Writing. Vol. 1: Te Whakahuatanga O Te Ao: Reflections of Reality. 105.]

    Other

  • "Sir Edmund all Praise for Wife at Investiture." Dominion 1 Jun. 1990: 4.
  • "Ringatu Tohunga Dies." Te Māori News 2.7 (May 1993): 3.