Hītori
History
The University has a long and rich Māori history, making it one of the leading universities in the area of Māori scholarship.
Among Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington's early scholars of Māori were luminaries such as I. G. Sutherland and Ernest Beaglehole.
The first Māori to receive an Honorary Doctorate from the University was Sir Apirana Ngata, whose son Sir Henare Ngata graduated with a Bachelor of Commerce at the same ceremony in May 1948.
The first known Māori PhD graduate at the University was Martin Theodore Te Punga in 1954. He was also the University's first Māori lecturer, teaching for a brief time in Geology.
Another Māori alumnus was Dame Whetu Tirikatene-Sullivan, who was elected as Women’s Vice-President to the Victoria University of Wellington Students’ Association Executive in 1960, its first Māori woman member. While on the Executive, she campaigned to have te reo Māori offered at university.
Te Reo Māori and Māori studies as subjects of study were introduced to the University by way of the Department of Anthropology in 1964. They were taught by such scholars as Dame Joan Metge, Wiremu Parker, and Te Kapunga (Koro) Dewes.
Another early pioneer was Professor Whatarangi Winiata, who was appointed to the Chair of Accountancy in 1974 and expressed intentions at the time to ‘Māorify Victoria’ beyond the core subject of Māori studies. He taught a Māori resource management paper for many years.
In 1975, Professor Hirini Moko Mead was appointed to New Zealand's first chair of Māori studies. By 1981, the Department of Māori Studies (which was later to become known as Te Kawa a Māui) had gained independence from Anthropology, with noted specialities in Māori language, literature, and material culture.
In 1980, the University established the first marae at a university, Te Herenga Waka, in a refurbished building on Kelburn Parade. Professor Mead, along with Wiremu Parker and the tohunga Ruka Broughton, were instrumental in the construction of a newly carved meeting house, Te Tumu Herenga Waka. This was opened on 6 December 1986.
Te Herenga Waka Marae was later joined by Ako Pai Marae at Karori campus when the Wellington Teachers' College was amalgamated with the University in 2005. This amalgamation also saw the addition of Te Kura Māori as another of the University’s Māori academic units, which offers a programme in Māori education. Wally Penetito was appointed as the University’s first Professor of Māori Education in 2009.
In 2000, Professor Piri Sciascia became the University’s first Toiahurei, or Assistant Vice-Chancellor (Māori), and in 2003 he was made Pro Vice-Chancellor (Māori) to lead Māori across the institution. He was succeeded in 2016 by the current Deputy Vice Chancellor Māori, Professor Rawinia Higgins, the first woman to hold this position.
In 2001, the University Council also established Toihuarewa, a forum where Māori academic interests are examined, debated, and discussed.
Since those early days, the number of Māori students and staff at the University has continued to grow. From lone solitary figures in lecture theatres (in 1955 Māori students made up merely 1–2 percent of total students), today Māori students account for approximately 12 percent of the University's student population. There are currently 61 Māori academic staff teaching across a range of disciplines at Te Herenga Waka.