Cooper, Dame Whina (1895-1994), was a community leader and campaigner for the rights of New Zealand’s Indigenous (native) Māori people. In 1975, Whina led a 700-mile (1,100-kilometer) march from the far north of the North Island to the New Zealand Parliament in Wellington to demand the protection of Māori land.
Whina Cooper was born Hōhepine (Josephine) Te Wake at Te Karaka in the far north of New Zealand’s North Island. She was the daughter of a Te Rarawa chief. Her birth date is estimated as Dec. 9, 1895. Whina was educated at St. Joseph’s Māori Girls’ College in Napier before training and working as a teacher, storekeeper, postmistress, and farmer.
In the early 1930’s, Whina organized the local introduction of a land development scheme. She later became president of the district farmers’ organization. After moving to Auckland, she became the founding national president of the Māori Women’s Welfare League in 1951. This organization promotes the health, welfare, and wellbeing of Māori women and their families. Whina spent the next two decades delivering lectures around the country on the needs of the Māori people and the pressing issues of education, health, and housing. In 1975, at the age of 80, Whina became the leader of a prominent protest group, Te Rōpū Matakite (The People with Foresight). She was named a dame commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1981. Whina died on March 26, 1994.
