Māori Scholar and Language Champion Sir Pou Temara Dies at 78

Sir William Te Rangiua “Pou” Temara, a Māori scholar and language educator in New Zealand, has died aged 78. His family confirmed his death on Sunday morning, November 8. Funeral and burial arrangements had not yet been confirmed. Temara, of Ngāi Tūhoe, was Professor of Māori Philosophy at Te Whare Wānanga o Awanuiārangi and had served on the Waitangi Tribunal since 2008. His grandparents raised him in Te Urewera, where Māori was his childhood language. His work encompassed formal oratory, genealogy, ritual prayer and customary practice. With Sir Tīmoti Kāretu and the late Dr Wharehuia Milroy, he helped establish Te Panekiretanga o te Reo Māori, the Institute of Excellence in the Māori Language. Its teaching included advanced language, formal speeches, ceremonial calls and tikanga, or customary protocols. He also chaired Te Papa’s Repatriation Advisory Panel and served on the Tūhoe Waikaremoana Māori Trust Board. He received a knighthood for services to Māori and education in 2021. In 2026, Temara won Te Mūrau o te Tuhi, the Māori Language Award at the Ockham New Zealand Book Awards, for Te Āhua o ngā Kupu Whakaari a Te Kooti. The award judges described it as “a significant scholarly work”. The book examines prophetic sayings and proverbs and their connections with faith, land, history and people, using a structure drawn from a traditional ancestral meeting house.