Te Rohe o Ngāti Kahungunu

Initial exposure to the English language was high in this region because settlers were attracted to the highly productive agricultural and farming land. As with other areas however, the use and fluency of the Māori language amongst adults was still relatively high in the 1930s.

The two World Wars, an influenza epidemic, and mass urban migration led to a huge drop in the number of people remaining in the traditional communities of Ngāti Kahungunu. Unsurprisingly, this had a devastating effect on the status of the Māori language as the pool of native speakers was greatly depleted.

By the 1970s, Māori language was in a critical state in Ngāti Kahungunu, as with most other iwi. The majority of Māori speakers were older people. Major efforts were made in the 1980s and 1990s to revitalise the Māori language. One of the four nation-wide pilot bilingual schools was established at Ömāhu. The third kōhanga reo in the country was also established at Ömāhu.

In 1988, the area’s own Māori radio station was established. Radio Kahungunu continues today in its key language revitalisation role, broadcasting to a listenership of around 20,000.

Community-based education has long been dominated by the presence of Te Ātaarangi, established in Wairoa by Liz Hunkin. Night classes are offered, and He Kāinga Kōrerorero, providing mentoring support to whānau, has been piloted. Te Kura Motuhake o Te Ātaarangi is an accredited Private Training Establishment also located in Wairoa. This PTE delivers a Māori language training programme based on the Te Ātaarangi pedagogy that equips students with the skills needed to deliver the Te Ātaarangi language programme. It is the only PTE of its kind in Aotearoa.

Since 2005, Ngāti Kahungunu Iwi Incorporated and the Ministry of Education have entered into partnership through the Community Based Language Initiatives fund. This coordinated approach has supported the iwi to pursue language revitalisation for Ngāti Kahungunu whānau, hapū and iwi. The development of a strategic language plan drives language initiatives in the Hawkes Bay region.