The biography of Dame Areta Koopu

This project will research and share the pūrākau of Dame Areta Koopu, one of Aotearoa’s Kahurangi (Dames)—a distinguished Māori leader who has held significant roles across whānau, iwi, NGO, and Crown entities. These roles include President of the Māori Women’s Welfare League, Director of Māori Women’s Development Inc, member of the Waitangi Tribunal, and Human Rights Commissioner.

Through this work, the project will highlight her leadership journey, contributions to Māori development, and the lasting impact of her advocacy across multiple sectors in Aotearoa.

Dr Kathie Irwin and Associates specialises in education, research, and training. The company was founded in 2020, building on a much longer intergenerational legacy of Māori women in education and leadership.

The original kaupapa of this work traces back to 1914, when my 14-year-old maternal grandmother made the decision that education would be her future. From that moment, she established a lineage of Māori women educators that has continued across generations. I am the third generation in this line, following my mother.

The company logo is inspired by my moko kauae, gifted to us by Sir Derek Lardelli. It represents themes of growth rooted in ancient wisdom, alongside the courage to carry our stories and knowledge into the wider world. Our strategic vision is to indigenise humanity, and our mission is grounded in E tipu, e rea.

Project Team and Advisors

This project is supported by a wide network of expertise and leadership. Together, this collective brings deep experience across education, governance, business, research, advocacy, and Māori development, ensuring the kaupapa is grounded, accountable, and supported across multiple levels of leadership.

Dame Areta lives in Whangara and I live in Otaki. Dr Kathie Irwin is the Chief Biographer of this project. She will be supported by a Research Assistant for admin and technical support. 

The funding will be used to fund research admin and expenses:

1. Travel: To visit Dame Areta in Whangara and work with her there (Dr Irwin).
2. Accommodation: During the research visits (Dr Irwin).
3. Kai and expenses: For the research trip. I will plan to take kai and other materials needed to support the research when I meet with Dame Areta (Dr Irwin and Dame Areta). 
4. Transcription costs of the tapes: Transcription will be done using AI. The research assistant will undertake this role (Research Assistant). 

Born on 8 March 1941 (Te Aitanga-a-Hauiti, Ngāti Kahu), Dame Areta Koopu was raised on the East Coast under the powerful tribal moemoeā of Sir Apirana Ngata: “E tipu, e rea.”

First written in a young Māori girl’s autograph book, this moemoeā called on Māori to pursue excellence in both the ancestral mātauranga of their tīpuna and the knowledge systems of tauiwi. Today, we might describe this as a Tiriti-centred worldview—one that embraces dual knowledge systems as a pathway for Māori advancement.

At the time, however, wider New Zealand society did not share these aspirations. Government policy favoured assimilation, culminating in the 1960 Hunn Report, which effectively positioned Māori success as dependent on becoming more like Europeans.

Ngata rejected this outright, and Ngāti Porou stood firmly within his vision. Dame Areta was born into that legacy—into a community shaped by purpose, cultural strength, and collective aspiration. It was a time when Māori cultural infrastructure on the East Coast was both vibrant and enduring, and it remains so today.

Her pūrākau is therefore much more than an individual life story. It is a story of a Māori woman navigating the wider world she was born into, grounded in the strength of her whānau, nurtured by her iwi, and guided by her own determination and leadership. It traces her journey across many roles: uri, mokopuna, tuāhine, hoa rangatira, māmā, kōkā, CEO, mareikura, President of the Māori Women’s Welfare League, member of the Waitangi Tribunal, and Human Rights Commissioner.

This is no ordinary life. It is a powerful expression of where mātauranga Māori, tikanga, and kawa intersect—giving life to kia Māori, to lived realities grounded in mana wahine in Aotearoa. Dame Areta embodies vision, courage, and integrity: a leader, a champion, and a living example of “E tipu, e rea.”

About the Project

This project will produce a comprehensive biography of Dame Areta Koopu, including:

• Primary research: in-depth interviews with Dame Areta, her whānau, and a selected group of people she has worked alongside—spanning whānau, hapū and iwi members; former Prime Ministers and Ministers of the Crown; wāhine Māori leaders; clergy; and professional colleagues.
• Secondary research: extensive literature and archival research, including the collection of photographs, personal taonga, newspaper records, film, and archival audio.
• Publication development: design and layout of the book, with publication through a leading publishing house (discussions currently underway).
• Launch and dissemination: a formal book launch, alongside ongoing advocacy and promotion to support the advancement of mana wahine and whanake Māori.

We need this story now more than ever, both at home and abroad. We are facing a world in which indigeneity is under threat socially, culturally, economically and environmentally. Papatūānuku is being ravaged in a way that she may never recover fully from. The devastation of western models of environmental exploitation and extraction are now being seen in the fullness of their environmental impact. Human rights are being flagrantly abused in many quarters of the globe, colonisation in modern terms rearing its ugly head in unprecedented ways. 

Women's leadership is being increasingly called for. How do women lead? What drives women leaders? What characterises women's leadership? What do we know about indigenous women leaders? The contribution of indigenous women to their societies, and to globalisation, is being highlighted as creating a platform for a more sustainable, caring future. 

Dame Areta's story, set in the context of Aotearoatanga, nation building, in Aotearoa New Zealand, will shine a light on the power of ancestral knowledge, and the struggles that indigenous whānau and communities have had to mount to carry the precious treasures that our ancestors gifted to us, across generations, a legacy for their mokopuna.