Tūroa Royal

Tūroa Royal was born on the 28th of January 1935, at Waimangō Point, on the Firth of Thames, just north of Kaiaua. His parents were Robert Haunui Tukumana Royal of Ngāti Whanaunga, Ngāti Tamaterā and Ngāti Raukawa. His mother was Meri Te Oi Tamehana of Ngāpuhi and Ngāti Hine.

One of Royal’s siblings was Wiremu Taurau Royal, the first registered Māori architect.[1]

Royal grew up on the family farm, a remnant block within the lands of his Ngāti Whanaunga people. The block was first converted into a farm by his paternal adopted grandfather, Tukumana Te Taniwha of Ngāti Whanaunga and later by his father Haunui.

Through his father, Royal belongs to the iwi (tribes) of Ngāti Whanaunga and Ngāti Tamaterā of the Hauraki region and Ngāti Raukawa of the Horowhenua region, near Wellington. His family name, Royal or Te Roera, comes from Ngāti Raukawa.

On his mother’s side, Royal belongs to Ngāpuhi and Ngāti Hine. His maternal grandfather was Te Oi Tamehana of Ngāti Kōpaki, Ngāti Hine. His maternal grandmother was Hana Toi of the Ngāti Korokoro and Ngāti Whārara peoples of Ōmāpere, Hokianga.

As Royal was born and raised at Waimangō, Firth of Thames, within the lands of Ngāti Whanaunga, this is his primary tribal affiliation. His family continue to maintain ‘ahi kā’ (home fires) at Waimangō and many of Royal’s immediate family members (including his parents and some of his siblings) are interred in the family cemetery at Waimangō.

Royal attended Kaiaua Primary School (commencing in 1940) and Wesley College, near Pukekohe. Encouraged by his mother’s brother, Rev Māori Marsden, Royal enrolled at the University of Auckland in 1954.[2] He studied Education, Anthropology and Māori Studies and completed a Bachelor of Arts on the 6th of May 1960. (He also took papers in History, Italian and English). Royal later completed a Master of Arts in Geography on the 3rd of May 1968. His dissertation was entitled 'The Phosphate Manufacturing Industry in New Zealand'.[3]

In 1975, Royal completed a Master of Education Administration (M.EdAdmin) at the University of New England, Armidale, New South Wales, Australia. His dissertation was entitled ‘Culture change and education administration in New Zealand : administrative implications in introducing Māori language and Māori culture into secondary schools in New Zealand.’

Royal spent his career seeking ways of uplifting Māori educational achievement at all levels of schooling and tertiary education. He also sought to enrich and improve general New Zealand schooling through using aspects of Māori language and culture.

In 1959, Royal published an article in the Te Ao Hou magazine entitled 'A Māori Child Grows up in Auckland'.[4] The article provides an overview of primary, secondary and tertiary education as it relates to Māori in Auckland at the time. Royal expresses a number of views that would become key themes in his subsequent career.

In 1968, Royal contributed to a Race Relations Seminar at the University of Waikato where it was reported that he said,

...There is an urgent need to advance Maori education sufficiently to prevent the development of an unemployable proletariat... The nation cannot afford to waste any of the ability of its children, and we should develop the most untapped professional talent of the Maori people for the benefit of all." He went on to say, "If other races are setting about the task of integrating and adapting to the needs of modern society, the Maori should certainly not lag behind... As part of the New Zealand population, and indeed a growing proportion playing an important part in the economy, the Maori has right to all the facilities in which he can grow and reach his full intellectual capacity.""Salient". Racial Harmony Threat. 17 September 1968.

The use of Māori language and culture was an important dimension of his approach to Māori education and he was critical of ‘mono-cultural bias’ in schooling.[5]

During the 1960s, he taught at Tāmaki College, Auckland[6] and from 1970 to 1978, he was an Inspector of Māori and Island Education, for the then Department of Education of the New Zealand Government. From 1978 to 1986 he was Principal of Wellington High School[7] and from 1996 to 2006 he was Foundation Director of Whitireia Polytechnic, Porirua.[8] In 1980, Royal introduced bilingual and whānau based schooling into Wellington High School, one of the very first schools in New Zealand to do so.[9]

From 1981 to 2011, Royal was heavily involved in the establishment of Te Wānanga-o-Raukawa[10] in Ōtaki. He undertook numerous roles during its establishment phase including governance, management and teaching roles.[11]

Writing in Ka Whawhai tonu matou: Struggle without End Ranginui Walker explains that Royal attended a major hui (gathering) at Tūrangawaewae Marae, Ngāruawāhia, (the seat of the Māori King Movement) in September 1984. This gathering was convened by Te Rūnanga Whakawhanaunga i Ngā Hāhi and concerned a host of topics and issues of importance to Māori leadership at the time. One of those topics concerned the jurisdiction of the Waitangi Tribunal. Ranginui Walker explains that Royal had a hand in extending the jurisdiction of the Tribunal back to 1840.[12] He writes:

In the workshop on the Waitangi Tribunal, the resource person gave the background history leading up to the tribunal's establishment... It was put to the workshop that in the nine years since the tribunal came into being, events such as the land march, the occupation of disputed lands at Bastion Point and Raglan, protest marches and the Hikoi to Waitangi had raised the level of national consciousness to such an extent that perhaps the public would now accept a recommendation to make the tribunal retrospective to 1900. But just as a motion to that effect was put to the workshop, the chairman, Turoa Royal, asked forlornly where such a motion left the issue of Thames and Coromandel goldfields. The resource person replied 'Turoa, since your goldfield claim occurred in 1867, and if you want to take it to the tribunal, then you had better move an amendment to the motion to make it retrospective to 1840.' The amendment was moved... Thus it was quite serendipitously that the motion for retrospective powers was arrived at. (Ranginui Walker 2004)[12]

Royal was a founder of the World Indigenous Higher Education Consortium (WINHEC). Between 2002 and 2008 he was Chairperson of the Consortium.[13][14]

In 2009, Royal was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Literature by Massey University, Palmerston North.[15] The citation awarding the Honorary Doctorate to Royal acknowledged his commitment to Māori education sustained over more than 50 years. It was read by Professor Arohia Durie and includes the following statement:[16]

Many New Zealanders have made substantial contributions to education but relatively few have sustained active leadership in the field for more than fifty years. As early as 1956 as an undergraduate student at Auckland University, Mr. Royal was one of a small number of Maori students who argued that Maori language should be a curriculum subject for teacher trainees. He had by then already embarked on a career that would ultimately facilitate the transformation of New Zealand’s approach to education. By identifying language, culture, and community voice as determinants of successful learning, he was instrumental in building a pathway for educational inclusion that was entirely consistent with the nation’s increasingly diverse population. [17]

In the 2013 New Year Honours he was made a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit.[18] He received his insignia from Governor General Sir Jerry Mateparae on 23 May 2013.[19]

See 'Komako: A Bibliography of Writing by Māori in English' for a comprehensive list of writings by Tūroa Royal.

'The Maori Child Grows up in Auckland' in Te Ao Hou, June 1959

The World Indigenous Nations Higher Education Consortium WINHEC in WINHEC: International Journal of Indigenous Education Scholarship

Royal married Maryrose Wells in 1959. They had six sons, including Te Ahukaramū Charles Royal.