“I hope my book will be a contribution to retaining some of the treasures of our ancestors"
Dr Diggeress Rangituatahi Te Kanawa (nee Hetet)
Weaving a Kakahu
$45.00 incl postage (NZ)
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Eighteen year old Tira (left) and Rangimarie (16) in kakahu woven by their mother Te Rongopamamao Aubrey and aunts of Ngāti Kinohaku - Ngāti Maniapoto iwi (tribe). Photographed circa 1908.
Descendants of both sisters became ardent weavers, including Rangimarie’s daughter, the late Diggeress Te Kanawa , granddaughters, Ria Davis, Rangituatahi Te Kanawa, Kahutoi Te Kanawa and great granddaughters Veranoa Hetet and Clowdy Ngatai. Also Tira’s daughter, the late Puti Hineaupounamu Rare.
Rangimarie Tuheka-Hetet was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire in the 1973, promoted to Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1984. Then in 1992, she was elevated to Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire, for services to traditional Maori arts and crafts.
“Maori weaving has been in our family for many years. My mother, my grandmother and my aunts were experts. I can always remember wanting to follow in their footsteps with encouragement from my father” - Diggeress Te Kanawa
In 1993, Rangimarie was awarded the New Zealand Suffrage Centennial Medal, she continued to weave until her passing in 1995, aged 103.
The Waikato Museum (Hamilton NZ) is kaitiaki (caretaker) of the Hetet-Te Kanawa Collection, comprising more than 75 items, mostly made up of kakahu (cloaks) but also other accessories.
The Hetet - Te Kanawa Collection is the largest private collection of raranga (traditional Maori weaving), from one family, spanning five generations, in the world.