Ngā Aho Kaumatua

Haare Williams. (Ngai Tuhoe and Te Aitanga-a-Mahaki)

Haare Williams grew up in remote New Zealand on the shores of the Ohiwa Harbour in a traditional Māori way. He did not speak English until his schooling started at age eight.

Haare has had an extensive teaching career and in his later years, pioneered Māori radio as the General Manager of Aotearoa Radio. He has worked closely with iwi claimant communities collecting and preparing iwi oral testimonies for presentation before courts and the Waitangi Tribunal.

Haare was an executive director of the NZ 1990 Commission responsible for waka construction and assembly at Waitangi for the 1990 Sesquicentennial.  Haare is often consulted on Māori aspects of education, health, business, art and the media and has worked for the Auckland Mayor as cultural advisor.

“I grew up with a love of the spoken word; on the marae, in the Bible and later Shakespeare, I paint, write and sing the sounds and rhythms of the spoken word; I allow these to wash over me like gentle drops from heaven.”  (Haare Williams, 2015)