Tamati kruger biography

A lot had happened since I last talked to Tāmati Kruger in 2013. Then, Tūhoe’s settlement had not yet been reached with the Crown. Te Urewera was still a national park.

Tamati kruger biography

The legislation that enshrined Te Urewera as a legal person — owned by no one, owning itself — still lay in the future. So did Te Kawa, the document that lays out how Tūhoe will act as kaitiaki for Te Urewera.

In 2013, when I was working on a book on Tūhoe, Tāmati and I talked on the deck of Tūhoe’s administrative building in Taneatua — a plain, single-storey set of offices.

Five years later, we sat in the boardroom of New Zealand’s first living building, the stunning Te Kura Whare complex.

Tamati kruger biography wikipedia

Tāmati looked much the same, wearing one of his trademark thick woollen jumpers, as if he might need at any moment to head away into the bush, or watch one of his children play sport.

Tāmati’s down-to-earth style was something that appealed to me when I first met him.