Robert Mahuta

Sir Robert Mahuta
Born
Robert Jeremiah Ormsby

(1939-04-26)26 April 1939
Te Kūiti, New Zealand
Died1 February 2001(2001-02-01) (aged 61)
Hamilton, New Zealand
Other namesRobert Te Kotahi Mahuta
Known forTreaty of Waitangi negotiations
RelativesNanaia Mahuta (daughter)
Korokī Mahuta (father)
Te Atairangikaahu (sister)
Piupiu Te Wherowhero (grandmother)
Academic background
Alma materUniversity of Auckland
ThesisWhaikoorero a study of formal Maori speech (1974)

Sir Robert Te Kotahi Mahuta KNZM (26 April 1939 – 1 February 2001) was a prominent Māori politician. He was born Robert Jeremiah Ormsby and changed his name by deed poll.[1]

Mahuta was the first Māori leader to negotiate a satisfactory compensation settlement with the New Zealand government for tribal land confiscated under European settlement in the fledgling colony. In a deal completed in late 1994, he won a package worth NZ$170m for his Tainui tribe for the seizure of 485,000 hectares of land in the North Island's Waikato region 131 years earlier. Significantly for all Māori, the settlement included the first formal apology given by the Crown to the indigenous people for historical wrongs during colonisation.[2]

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference colossus was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ Barber, David (5 February 2001). "Obituary: Sir Robert Mahuta". The Independent. Retrieved 12 June 2011.