Nga Kai Hautu

Mana (Auckland), Volume 1, Issue 9, 27 October 1977, Page 7

Nga Kai Hautu

(Profile of a Maori Woman)

Twenty one year old city born Maori woman, Hilda Halkyard talks to Mana’s Maori Editor about her life and aspirations as a Maori woman.

She is at present attending Auckland University, studying a Bachelor of Arts degree in Anthropology. As the first woman president of the University Maori Club, Hilda feels strongly that she as a woman has much to offer to enrich the experiences of her male counterparts. From the Te Rarawa, Ngapuhi, Te Aopouri sub tribes of the north, she is an active member of Ngatamatoa and an enthusiastic supporter of Takaparawha (Bastion Point).

“As a young Maori I always felt unfilfilled as a person — basically as my childhood was mainly oriented towards living in. Pakeha terms, in a Pakeha system.”

Her Maoriness was stimulated by certain teachers at the latter part of her schooling at Hillary College. They encouraged the students “to be proud of oneself’ neverto feel lacking in any sense, and to rediscover and retain the beauty of “ones own

heritage.” “In a sense, you could call these Teaching Methods subversive — insofar as going against the “natural onesidedness of education! It encouraged rebellion — a rebellion to eradicate one’s self of all the old hang-ups about being a poor, dumb, dirty Maori. At last we were asked to think about things — about ourselves, rather than regurgitate screeds of expected nonsense.” Like her predecessors, Hilda strives to free Maori people from injustices, but she realises that it takes unity to free a people from bondage. Slowly but surely she feels Maoris are uniting and Maori struggles are coming to a peak. Although most Maoris do not necessarily agree on the methods or take, at least Maoris arethinking, for Hilda sees that these struggles involve every Maori in Aotearoa, directly or indirectly. Hilda predicts the climax is near.

“I am a person dedicated to retaining as much Maoriness as I can in my lifestyle. All I can ever hope is that other Maori people recognize their Maori attrbitues. Don’t push it to the front because it’s the ‘in thing.’ We don’t need ‘Super Maoris’ living by exact codes of Maoriness and setting out

exact expectations.” Hilda ends here with her description of what Maori is. “Maori is an awareness of beauty, light and respect. One finds it in naturalness, it does not come with an acquired piece of greestone.”