I am Hana

I am Hana commemorates the 50th anniversay of the presentation of the petition and the revitalisation of te reo Māori in Aotearoa.

Hana Te Hemara born 1940 was a founding member of Ngā Tamatoa and a prominent Māori leader and activist renown for her passion about the revival of the Māori langage.

Hana was the seventh of 12 children born in Bell Block and schooled in Waitara. Her whānau moved to central north island along with many whānau from Taranaki where her father worked building dams at Karapiro, Arapuni, Waipapa and Whakamaru.

Within that Māori community she was raised with the values her mother embodied. Those values of holding up your independance while supporting your whānau. Hana carried these traits all the while aligning herself with like minded people which led to the founding of Ngā Tamatoa in the 1970’s.

On September 14 1972 Hana, along with others presented a petition of over 30,000 signatures to parliment to prioritise the revitalisation of Te Reo Māori.

This day later on becaome Māori langage day in recognition of the petition. then only three years larer it was expanded to become Māori langauge week - now known as Te Wiki o Te Reo Māori.

These milestones we’re not one off events. in fact a series of initiatives and accomplishments that let Hana and Ngā Tamatoa in their push for real social and political changes in Aotearoa. These acts have challenged successive governments to honour the Treaty of Waiati and created a series of movements that campaigned for the inclusion of Te reo Māori in classrooms across Aotearoa

As of July 2021 there are more than 23,000 ākonga (students) enrolled accros Aotearoa in kōhanga reo and kura kaupapa.

Hana’s legacy can be felt by most accross Aotearoa today.

“Standing strong and shaping our future” -Iamhana.nz

This year, 2022 a mural to commemorate the 50th anniversary is being Painted in New Plymouth.