A ‘forever language’ – te Wiki o te Reo Māori marks 52 years of extraordinary progress

Ko tēnei te Wiki o te Reo Māori – it’s Māori Language Week.

It’s been 52 years since the landmark moment on September 14 1972, when Hana Te Hemara and her fellow activists from Ngā Tamatoa, Te Reo Māori Society and student group Te Huinga Tauira marched to parliament and carefully placed a suitcase on its steep, grey steps.

Inside the suitcase was a petition with 30,000 signatures, which became known as te Petihana Reo Māori – the Māori Language Petition.

Although a National government was still in power, a general election was due and the petition was delivered to MP Matiu Rata, soon to become Minister of Māori Affairs in the Labour government of Norman Kirk.

It was one of the most important catalysts for the subsequent Māori language revitalisation movement, and led to the introduction of optional te reo classes in schools, and teacher training courses.

Over the years since, there have been many more milestones as te reo Māori regained its place in the nation’s life and culture, including it becoming an official language in 1987, the direct result of the WAI11 Waitangi Tribunal claim.

Already, in 1982, the kōhanga reo (preschool language “nest”) system had begun, after a national hui of kaumātua was presented with research showing very few Māori children were being raised as speakers of the language.

With the subsequent advent of kura kaupapa Māori (language immersion schools) and wānanga (tertiary institutions), the language’s slow decline since colonisation was gradually reversed. A new phrase eventually entered the national consciousness: the kōhanga reo generation.

A better future

While there have been several generations of kōhanga reo graduates, it’s the current group of savvy, articulate reo speakers aged under 35 that is making waves.

They include politicians such as Hana-Rawhiti Maipi-Clarke and now the new Kuini Māori Nga wai hono i te po. Along with many others, they embody the energy, vision and passion of the kōhanga reo generation, grounded in their whakapapa and identity as reo Māori speakers.

Looking back from this vantage point to 1972, it’s clear Aotearoa New Zealand has come a long way. The people behind that landmark petition were largely urban-raised and disconnected from their Māori roots. But they wanted a better future for Māori children, and access to te reo Māori was one of their key priorities.

At the heart of the petition was a very modest request:

We the undersigned, do humbly pray that courses in Māori language and aspects of Māori culture be offered in all those schools with large Māori rolls and that these same courses be offered as a gift to the Pākehā from the Māori in all other New Zealand schools as a positive effort to promote a more meaningful concept of integration.

Essentially, they were asking for te reo Māori to be taught in some schools – hardly an earth-shattering request at face value, but one with profound consequences.

And the life and influence of the petition didn’t stop there. September 14 quickly became Māori Language Day, which then became Māori Language Week, which we’ve been celebrating ever since.