 |
|||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
|
|
|
|||||
|
 |
 |
Biography of Taupotiki Wiremu RatanaName: Taupotiki Wiremu RatanaBirth Date: January 25, 1870 Death Date: September 18, 1939 Place of Birth: New Zealand Nationality: New Zealander Gender: Male Occupations: religious leader, political leader Taupotiki Wiremu Ratana Taupotiki Wiremu Ratana (1870-1939) was the founder of the Ratana Church and a major force in the spiritual, political, and material development of the New Zealand Maori people.Taupotiki Wiremu (Bill) Ratana was born on January 25, 1870, to Urukohai, or Wiremu Kowhai, a farmer reputedly possessed of prophetic powers, and Ihipera. His upbringing appears to have given little indication of the role he was later to play, although the formative influence of an aunt, Mere Rikiriki, should be noted. She was renowned as something of a prophet, and in 1912 she indicated that her nephew would become the focus of the aspirations and striving of his people.His relative lack of formal education--he ended his school career in the fourth grade--served to distinguish him from other Maori leaders such as those active in the Young Maori Party, but this lack of a high level of European style education did not disadvantage …showed first 150 words…
…showed last 150 words…in intellectual mystique, and it was a Christianity which was strongly tinged with socialist leanings. His movement had challenged the existing order. He saw, in the 1930s, the demise of both Coates, as representative of that order among the Europeans, and, in the political defeat of Sir Apirana Ngata in 1934, the demise of the more traditional alternative leadership among the Maoris. Associated Organizations Further Reading Tauhupotiki Wiremu Ratana is listed in the standard works of history and biography on New Zealand, including: A Dictionary of New Zealand Biography, G. H. Scholefield, editor (1940), vol. 2; New Zealand Encyclopaedia, Gordon McLauchlan, editor-in-chief (1984); The Oxford History of New Zealand, W. H. Oliver, editor (1981); and The New Zealand Book of Events, Bryce Fraser, editor (1986). Longer accounts of his life are to be found in J. McLeod Henderson, Ratana: The Man, the Church, the Political Movement (1972) and in H. H. Bolitho, Ratana, the Maori Miracle Man (1921). |