A brief history of Sir Kingi Ihaka and the Auckland Anglican Māori Club
On Sunday 8th October 2017, the Auckland Anglican Māori Club celebrated its 50th anniversary at The Church of the Holy Sepulchre with a Thanksgiving Service.
Sir Kingi Matutaera Ihaka dedicated himself to all aspects of Māoritanga and played an important part in the flourishing of contemporary kapa haka. Sir Kingi was also meticulous at documenting his own work and involvement with the Anglican Church and the Māori community which is reflected in his personal archives that we hold here at the John Kinder Theological Library.
Sir Kingi became a tutor for the influential Ngāti Poneke Māori Club in Wellington and in 1964 was appointed the president of the Wellington Anglican Māori Club. He later became the head of the Auckland Māori Mission and founded the Auckland Anglican Māori Club in 1967.
Sir Kingi had a long involvement with helping to run and organise Māori cultural events, such as the New Zealand Polynesian Festival, a forerunner to the Paskifika Festival here in Auckland. The following event programmes were collected by Sir Kingi and document his years of involvement with and interest in cultural events.
Māori Television recently featured an item on the Auckland Anglican Māori Club’s 50th Anniversary, which you can watch here: Anniversary resonates with tunes of the late Sir Kingi Matutaera Ihaka.
Here is Sir Kingi introducing a performance by the Auckland Anglican Māori Club at The New Zealand Polynesian Festival in Auckland, 1981.