Hēnare Ngata

His parents were the politician Āpirana Ngata (1874–1950) and the community leader Arihia Ngata ( Tamati, 1879–1929).

Ngata was their youngest son and of his 14 siblings, 10 survived to adulthood.

She was a daughter of Ngata's late sister Hana Cooper (1909–1940).

Ngata worked as an accountant, first for Gisborne Sheep Farmers and then for McCullochs, Butler, & Spence.

He then became self-employed at a time when this was very uncommon for Māori; he even had to overcome suspicion by fellow Māori before they would trust him with accountancy work for them.

He was named after Hēnare Kōhere, who had died in WWI in France in 1916.

Sir Hēnare Kōhere Ngata (19 December 1917 – 11 December 2011) was a Māori leader and accountant.

A prisoner of war in Germany after his capture in Greece, he returned to New Zealand to finish his university studies and became an accountant.

He held directorships and chaired boards in the Gisborne Region.

He was particularly knowledgeable about Māori land issues and became a forceful advocate and legal expert.

Ngata was born in 1917 in Waiomatatini, a locality in the Waiapu Valley and on the south bank of the Waiapu River in the Gisborne District, New Zealand.

His iwi was Ngāti Porou.

The lexicographer Hōri Ngata (1919–1989), his nephew, was his eldest brother Mac's son.

Whai Ngata was Hōri Ngata's son.

Ngata received his education at Waiomatatini School, Te Aute College, and Victoria University of Wellington.

His tertiary studies were interrupted by WWII, but against the expectations of his father, he did not enlist immediately.

He had a new girlfriend, Lorna Mete-Kingi, whom he had met at Victoria.

He enlisted in October 1939 and received his military training at Trentham Military Camp.

Before he went overseas, he married Mete-Kingi at Putiki near Wanganui on 24 February 1940.

With the rank of sergeant major, he left New Zealand as part of the 28th Māori Battalion in May 1940.

He initially went to England, then to Egypt in 1941 and later that year to Greece.

On 29 April 1941, he was part of the large group of Māori Battalion soldiers captured by German forces.

They remained prisoners of war in a German camp until they were liberated by American forces in 1945.

Disturbed by his war experiences, Ngata wanted to go back to Waiomatatini and not have contact with others.

His father, though, directed him to finish his university studies, so the couple moved back to Wellington.

On 7 May 1948, Ngata and his father both graduated; he with his Bachelor of Arts and his father with an honorary doctorate in literature (LittD).

The following year, Ngata graduated with a Bachelor of Commerce.

After his father's second wife died in May 1948, they took her mokopuna (either a grandchild or grand-niece) Wikitoria ("Wiki") Whyte as an 11-year-old who had until then been raised by them.

In 1949, the Ngatas moved to Gisborne.

They had children through the Maori custom of adopting within the family (whāngai adoption).

In 1950, Lorna Ngata's sister-in-law was expecting a seventh child and Lorna asked whether they could have the child after birth; they named the boy Apirana ("Api") Turupa Maihi.

In 1951, they adopted the then 11-year-old Sue Hinehou Rahera Cooper.

In 1959, he was appointed to the board of Mangatū Incorporation and was later their chairperson for 18 years.

This led to further appointments as board chairperson.

He chaired and convened the council's Māori Land Committee from 1960 to 1984.

He held directorships with Fieldair Ltd, Gisborne Sheepfarmers Mercantile Ltd, and Gisborne Sheepfarmers Freezing Co Ltd. From 1962 to 1984, he was an inaugural member of the New Zealand Māori Council.

He tried to follow his father, Āpirana Ngata, into politics but was unsuccessful when he stood in the 1969 general election.

He was a member of the Gisborne / East Coast Regional Development Council from 1973 to 1978.

His alma mater, Victoria University of Wellington, awarded him an honorary doctorate (LLD) for his legal knowledge in 1979.

Ngata was knighted in 1982 for services to the Māori people.