The Honourable Sir Māui Pōmare KBE CMG |
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8th Minister of Health | |
In office 7 June 1923 – 18 January 1926 |
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Prime Minister |
William Massey Francis Bell Gordon Coates |
Preceded by | James Parr |
Succeeded by | Alexander Young |
Member of the New Zealand Parliament for Western Maori |
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In office 1911–1930 |
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Preceded by | Henare Kaihau |
Succeeded by | Taite Te Tomo |
Personal details | |
Born | 1875 or 1876 Urenui, New Zealand |
Died | 27 June 1930 Los Angeles, California, United States |
(aged 54)
Political party | Reform |
Father | Wiremu Naera Pōmare |
Mother | Mere Hautonga Nicoll |
Grandmother | Kahe Te Rau-o-te-rangi |
Sir Māui Wiremu Pita Naera Pōmare KBE CMG (1875 or 1876 – 27 June 1930) was a New Zealand doctor and politician, being counted among the more prominent Māori political figures. He is particularly known for his efforts to improve Māori health and living conditions. However, Pōmare's career was not without controversy: he negotiated the effective removal of the last of Taranaki Maori land from its native inhabitants - some 18,000 acres - in a move which has been described as the "final disaster" for his people. He was a member of the Ngati Mutunga iwi originally from North Taranaki; he later lived in Wellington and the Chatham Islands after the 1835 invasion.
The date of Pōmare's birth is unclear—school records give 24 August 1875 but other sources give 13 January 1876. He was born at a pa near Urenui in Taranaki. His father, Wiremu Naera Pōmare, was of Ngāti Mutunga descent and his mother, Mere Hautonga Nicoll, was of Ngāti Toa descent. His maternal grandmother, Kahe Te Rau-o-te-rangi, had been a signatory of the Treaty of Waitangi. Both of his parents died before he reached adulthood, leaving him in the guardianship of his aunt. Pōmare was the boy injured at Parihaka when a horse trod on his foot.
Pōmare attended Christchurch Boys' High School and then Te Aute College. Although his family wanted him to study law Pōmare decided to become a doctor and, in 1895, he began study at a Seventh-day Adventist Church medical college at Battle Creek in the US state of Michigan. He remained in the United States until 1900 and travelled extensively.