Rangimārie Hetet


Dame Rangimārie Hetet was a New Zealand Māori tohunga raranga. She identified with the Ngati Maniapoto iwi.

Early life

Hetet was born in Oparure, King Country, New Zealand on 24 May 1892, the daughter of Charles Wilson Hursthouse and Mere Te Rongopamamao Aubrey. Through her father she was a niece of Richmond Hursthouse and Henry Robert Richmond. As her father was generally away for survey work, she grew up amongst Ngati Kinohaku, a hapū of Ngati Maniapoto. In 1899, her father instructed for her to live with a European family at Paemako near Piopio, where she started her schooling. She was unhappy with the arrangements and a year later, she moved to live with an older half-sister in Kāwhia. After breaking her arm aged nine, she returned to live with her mother, and attended Te Kuiti Native School and then Oparure Native School. She was taught the art of weaving korowai by her mother.

Career

On 16 February 1911, she married the carpenter Tuheka Taonui Hetet at Oparure. He was descended from a French whaler. They had two children before he went to fight in World War I, and another three after his return. He was affected by gas poisoning and died suddenly in 1938.
In the 1950s Hetet escalated her weaving efforts as a result of encouragement received from the Māori Women's Welfare League. From that time onward she began to regularly produce cloaks and other items. She passed her knowledge on to and helped train her daughter Diggeress Te Kanawa in the art of weaving. Hetet passed on her detailed knowledge of the different types of flax and other plants that provide the material to be weaved as well as how to produce and fix dyes to the fibres in preparation for weaving.

Honours

Hetet was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire in the 1973 Queen's Birthday Honours, promoted to Commander of the Order of the British Empire in the 1984 Queen's Birthday Honours, and finally, in the 1992 Queen's Birthday Honours, elevated to Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire. In 1993, Hetet was awarded the New Zealand Suffrage Centennial Medal.

Exhibitions