Rangi Hanigan: champion of Te Ataarangi
Rangi Hanigan: 1948-2009.
Te Tau Ihu ō Te Waka a Maui/The Top of the South lost one its most dedicated, staunch and dynamic advocates of Te Reo Māori with the recent passing of Rangi Hanigan.
Many Golden Bay people have enjoyed the benefit of Rangi’s devotion to Te Reo through the language-learning programme known as Te Ataarangi.
Born in 1948, Rangi grew up in Tauhei, near Morrinsville. Her hapū/sub-tribe was Ngati Wairere and her iwi was Tainui. Her upbringing was steeped in Māori tikanga/custom but when she was growing up it was seen as a disadvantage to use the language in everyday life, so English became her first language. This situation led to Rangi’s passion, later in life, to make Te Reo Māori available to everyone who wished to acquire it.
In 1969 she shifted to Motueka and, over time, became involved in a range of community-building activities. Anywhere that Māori people were likely to be involved, Rangi would turn up as a worker. Among other things, she served as an Honorary Community Officer and gave 20 years to the Kōhanga Reo movement.
The most significant factor in Rangi’s own development, and the consequent gifts she bestowed on this region, occurred in 1981 with the arrival in Motueka of Te Ataarangi - a revolutionary way of learning Te Reo Māori.
Te Ataarangi uses rods/rākau, hand signals, immersion, repetition, collaboration and inclusion to give learners of all kinds the chance to speak Māori. When Te Ataarangi classes began in Motueka, Rangi was asked to assist because of her grasp of correct pronunciation and her understanding of tikanga. She became a passionate learner, teacher, supporter and organiser. When Motueka’s original Te Ataarangi tutor left the region, Rangi became a tutor.
Her personal journey in Te Ataarangi included a year’s full-time study at the Waikato Polytech in 1993. In 2004, she completed, by distance learning, her Bachelor’s degree in Māori Immersion Teaching from Te Wānanga Awanuiarāngi in Whakatane.
So that she could to share her passion for Te Reo with the people of our region, Rangi set about helping to make the branch of Te Ataarangi in Te Tau Ihu ō Te Waka a Maui a dynamic and successful body. This work included travelling to Takaka to tutor classes here for four years.
Rangi sought a good working relationship between Te Ataarangi and the Nelson Marlborough Institute of Technology. Her vision was to ensure that tutors were being trained so that the programmes could be taught in communities throughout the region. NMIT buys an annual licence from Te Ataarangi to teach Te Reo using its kaupapa/principles. Rangi herself taught at NMIT, for a time teaching at the polytech during the day and in community classes in Motueka and Golden Bay at night.
Rangi was a staunch supporter of Golden Bay’s Onetahua Marae from the time that it was being developed.
The marae’s kaumatua/elder John Ward-Holmes speaks fondly of Rangi coming here as part of a group from Te Āwhina Marae in Motueka to support the early efforts of the Onetahua whānau/family.
“She was a great supporter of whatever we were doing over here,” said John. “But her real passion was Te Reo. She said it was her dream to promote the learning of Te Reo in Onetahua. A lot of her keenness was due to the fact that there were so many capable, open and committed learners over here. About five years ago she said that she was giving herself a five-year window to get so many speakers through the various levels of Te Ataarangi’s programme that this area would become self-sufficient in Te Reo learning and need no more support from outside. The people she inspired are really going for it and Rangi’s vision will be successful. It’s a wonderful gift to have given us.”
One of the students who is part of Rangi’s vision for Golden Bay is Glynn Rogers. She too spoke of Rangi’s passion for the teaching and learning of Te Reo Māori.
“Rangi was a real mixture,” said Glynn. “She was humble but fierce, and challenging but very accepting of others. She was completely fearless when it came to authority, she didn’t care who she had to deal with to get things done. At the same time, she was totally respectful of what people brought to the classes. She was a bridge-builder who made it easy for non-Māori people to become part of the whole set of values that surrounds this method of learning the language. Most of all she gave me the ability to stand up and say, ‘Here I am. I’m a Māori and I’m proud.’”
Chrissie Piper, student, colleague and friend of Rangi, spoke of her special talents.
“Rangi had the gift of making the person she was talking with feel really special. She has a special talent for waiata too - whether it was writing waiata to support the learning or knowing the right time to introduce a waiata to settle students and tutors alike. She was renowned in the Te Ataarangi whanau nationally as being one of the storehouses of the early waiata. Her infectious humour and her utter joy in teaching Te Reo touched many hearts.”
Chrissie recounted something moving that was said at Rangi’s tangi in Motueka.
“Her nephew got up and said how mistaken they were to think that she belonged only to Ngati Wairere. Coming here, we see that she belonged to Te Ataarangi and the world.”
Neil Wilson
