Ramai Hayward

Ramai Hayward was born in Martinborough to Roihi Te Miha (Ngāti Kahungunu and Ngāi Tahu) and Fred Mawhinney of Irish descent. Hayward’s father died when she was young and she was raised by her Māori grandmother in Martinborough and was educated at Pirinoa Primary School, New Brighton Primary School, Queen Victoria College and Christchurch West High School (later renamed Hagley High School). At the age of seventeen she attended Wellington Polytech Art School and then took up an apprenticeship in photography for two years at the Cuba Studios in Wellington. In 1937 she opened her own Photographic Studios in Devonport and Queen St, Auckland. When film-maker Rudall Hayward was preparing to film Rewi’s Last Stand, he cast Ramai in the part of Ariana. In 1943 Ramai and Rudall were married and in 1946 they travelled overseas and worked in film-making in England for four years and in Australia for three years. They returned to New Zealand and made documentaries for the cinema and later for television. The Haywards’ involvement with the China Friendship Society led them to make a documentary entitled Inside Red China. In 1957 Ramai produced the educational film Children In China, which was filmed in China. They produced other documentaries in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s for which Ramai wrote the stories. In 1972 they produced a feature film on race relations in New Zealand entitled To Love A Māori. In 1973, the Haywards produced two further films: Matenga, and an adaptation of Katherine Mansfield’s short story The Doll’s House. In both productions Ramai was the camerawoman. In 1974 Rudall died ending a 36-year partnership in film-making. Ramai continued to be actively involved in film work, acting, painting and photography. She was President of Nga Puna Waihanga from 1976-81 and was President of Waiata Koa since its inception. She was a director of the Hayward Historical Film Trust and worked on making video copies of the trust’s film collection. Ramai preserved all the scripts and screenplays which were housed at Waikato University. In 1994 she was appointed Patron of “Women in Film and Television” (WIFT) and she is also a Board Member of WIFT. In 1994 The Film Commission made Ramai their kuia.

Hayward wrote “As a film-maker and film-writer, my writing has been for screen plays, documentaries and for educational films. It is only during the past three years that I have concentrated on writing my autobiography - at the age of eighty-one it is practically completed. I have just been down the Wanganui River to update the story of the film my late husband Rudall and I made in 1959 (Song of the Wanganui). It was made to highlight the beauty of the river in our attempt to prevent the water being diverted for Hydro dams”. At the inaugural Māori Film Festival in Wairoa Ramai was presented with a lifetime achievement award.

On the centenary of Rudall’s birth in 2000, Ramai gifted a major collection of the couple's films to the New Zealand Film Archive. In 2005 Ramai was awarded a Lifetime Achievement Award at the Wairoa Māori Film Festival for outstanding contribution to Maori film-making; and the following year was awarded a MNZM. In 2006 she was made a Member of the Order of Merit for services to film and television.

Ramai Hayward passed away early in July 2014. She was 98.

Biographical sources

• Correspondence from Ramai Hayward, 23 Feb. 1998.
• "Ramai Hayward." New Zealand Women in China. Tom Newnham. Auckland, N.Z.: Graphic, 1995. 94-101.
• Standing in the Sunshine: A History of New Zealand Women Since They Won the Vote. Principal author and principal researcher - text and illustrations Sandra Coney. Editorial advisers - Charlotte Macdonald, Anne Else, Dame Joan Metge, Tania Rei, Ngahuia Te Awekotuku, Angela Ballara, Merimeri Penfold, Rosemarie Smith. Auckland, N.Z.: Viking, Penguin Books, 1993. 234-235.
• Carpinter, Bernard. "Honour For First Māori Film-maker." 17 May 2005. http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:pSNTDU-E0mUJ:intranet.papanui.school.nz/file.php/100/Films_-_New_Zealand_-_Honour_for_first_Maori_film_maker.doc
• Ramai
• Hayward&cd=16&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=nz&client=firefox-a 20 Aug. 2010.
• https://www.nzonscreen.com/person/ramai-hayward/biography 14 October 2016
• http://www.nzherald.co.nz/wairarapa-times-age/news/article.cfm?c_id=1503414&objectid=11323654 14 October 2016
• http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA1407/S00272/poroporoaki-ramai-te-miha-patricia-rongomaitara-hayward.htm 14 October 2016