Te Paekiomeka Joy Ruha ONZM QSM (21 February 1931 – 16 December 2011)[1] was a prominent Māori leader and member of Māori Women's Welfare League. Of Te Whānau-ā-Apanui and Ngāti Porou descent, she lived most of her life in Wellington.

As a trained teacher, she taught Māori language for many years at The Correspondence School, enabling students whose schools did not offer the language to take in by distance education.[2]

Since 1986, she had been kaumātua of Te Herenga Waka Marae at Victoria University of Wellington.[3] She was a lifetime member of the Māori Women’s Welfare League and a foundation member of Te Atamira Taiwhenua, the national Maori advisory group to the Department of Internal Affairs. For some years she was a judge at the national kapa haka competitions.[4]

In the 1988 New Year Honours, Ruha was awarded the Queen's Service Medal for community service.[5] In the 2006 Queen's Birthday Honours, she was appointed an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit, for services to Māori.[6] She was made a Hunter Fellow of Victoria University of Wellington in 2011.

References

  1. ↑ "Memorial for Paekiomeka Joy Ruha". tributes.co.nz. 2011. Retrieved 18 December 2011.
  2. ↑ "Poroporoaki ki Te Pae ki Omeka Ruha, ONZM, QSM" (Press release). Māori Party. Scoop. 16 December 2011. Retrieved 18 December 2011.
  3. ↑ "New Hunter Fellows announced" (Press release). Victoria University of Wellington. Scoop. 15 November 2011. Retrieved 18 December 2011.
  4. ↑ "Te Ipukarea: Partnerships". teipukarea.maori.nz. 2011. Archived from the original on 25 March 2012. Retrieved 18 December 2011.
  5. ↑ "No. 51173". The London Gazette (3rd supplement). 31 December 1987. p. 35.
  6. ↑ "Queen's Birthday honours list 2006". Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet. 5 June 2006. Retrieved 4 May 2020.
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