Te Arikinui Dame Te Atairangikaahu

TE ARIKINUI DAME TE ATAIRANGIKAAHU Maori Queen

Born: 23 July, 1931, in Huntly, New Zealand. Died: 15 August, 2006, in Waikato, New Zealand, aged 76.

FOR a reigning monarch, Dame Te Ata surely hailed from one of the most humble backgrounds. She was born in a reed hut with a dirt floor, which was heated and lit purely by fires from kerosene tins. But Dame Te Ata ended her 75-year life as the richest Maori woman, with a fortune worth more than 3 million.

Unusually for a family of that generation, she was an only child. The labour was so exhausting for Te Atairangikaahu, Te Ata's mother, that her father, King Koroki, vowed there would be no more children for fear it would kill his wife.

Te Ata was only the seventh Maori sovereign as the practice - kingitanga - was started in direct response to the threat of British colonisation in 1858. The period marked the country's bloodiest land wars, with the indigenous Maori having more than one million acres of land seized by the white settlers.

When Te Ata was just two, her grandfather died and her father was crowned king. He ruled for the next 33 years.

The young Te Ata was later educated at Diocesan School, in Hamilton, a private girls' school, where she excelled at sport - particularly fencing and swimming and had her first taste of authority as house captain and prefect.

The move from an all-Maori environment to an almost totally all-Pakeha (white New Zealander) one was difficult, she said in a rare 2003 interview published in Mana magazine. "It was quite traumatic. I wasn't used to being around Pakeha. It took me a few years to settle down," she said.

The young Te Ata's ability to overcome her culture shock would prove useful when she was catapulted onto the world stage, dining with the likes of Nelson Mandela, Bill Clinton and Japan's Emperor Akihito. As a girl, she was mentored by Princess Te Puea Herangi, her great aunt and the legendary leader of the Waikato tribe. She had a relatively carefree existence for one who was to shoulder such responsibility; socialising with friends and even working in a department store.

But Princess Te Puea's firm grip often caused clashes with the independent-minded Te Ata. She rejected attempts by her great-aunt to arrange a marriage for her, instead insisting on marrying her childhood sweetheart, Whataumoana Paki, in a simple ceremony.

A more traditional wedding was held later and the couple went on to have seven children, which she insisted on caring for without any outside help.

When her father's health began to degrade in the 1960s, Te Ata was often called in to deputise for him. She became Maori queen hours before her father was buried in May 1966, following six hours of mourning.

Her biggest achievement was in seeking greater financial autonomy for the Waikato people, who alone suffered the confiscation of nearly half a million acres of land during the 1860s land wars. She was influential in leading the claims for her Tainui tribe's compensation, which was settled in an historic 60 million deal in 1995.

Te Ata's reign coincided with the reinvigoration of the tribal parliament movement and greater demands for restitution of what had been taken by white settlers in the 19th century. The flouting by the settlers and successive governments of the Treaty of Waitangi, signed by Maori and representatives of Queen Victoria, are to this day central to Maori grievances.

Despite this, Te Ata spoke out against radicals who demonstrated against the visiting British royals. Queen Elizabeth visited Te Ata at her family home on a visit in 1953.

Earlier this year, the Prince of Wales wrote to the Maori queen to congratulate her on the anniversary of her coronation, saying: "Our two families have enjoyed a wonderful friendship.

"The 40 years of the leadership, courage and stability you have so far given to the people of Aotearoa New Zealand and indeed to the wider world ... is an immeasurable treasure."

Te Ata was always careful to sidestep politics, although sometimes politics found her. In June 2003, her decision to attend a royal wedding in Tonga was criticised by free-speech advocates after King Taufa'ahau Tupou IV drafted legislation to ban an independent Tongan newspaper.

In May 2004, the Maori Party emerged in New Zealand politics. Te Ata stayed largely clear of the party's development, but she encouraged her niece Nanaia Mahuta, a cabinet minister, to stay working for Maori causes from within the Labour government.

Te Ata was awarded an honorary doctorate from Waikato University in 1973 and an honorary doctorate in law from Victoria University in 1999.

She was one of the first to be awarded the Order of New Zealand when it was established in 1987 - the country's highest honour - and became the first Maori woman to be made a Dame.

She raised the profile of Maori overseas and also championed the arts, Maori culture and language and women's welfare at home.

Te Ata died at her family home on the North Island, after a heart attack last month and failing kidneys, in the company of her family. Her death will be marked by a week of mourning.

No successor has yet been announced although she has hinted that she would like to see a male heir.

In May 2001, celebrating her coronation 35 years earlier, she said Kingitanga (Maori royal movement) had been "part of every moment, thought, dream and action.

"It is as much a part of me as the very air that I breathe".