Cooper, Dame Whina

▪ 1995

      New Zealand Maori activist (b. Dec. 9, 1895, Panguru, Northland region, N.Z.—d. March 26, 1994, Panguru), campaigned throughout her life for land rights and social justice for the aboriginal Maori people. As the daughter of the tribal chief Heremia Te Wake, Cooper was a highly visible leader. At age 18 she led her first protest—concerning the draining of a local swamp. She trained as a teacher at St. Joseph's College and later worked as a storekeeper and postmistress. After the death of her second husband, William Cooper, in 1949, she resumed her role as a social activist. In 1951 she was elected the first president of the Maori Women's Welfare League, through which she fought for better health care and for an increased role for women in the debate over native rights. Two years later she became a justice of the peace. In 1975 Cooper established the group Te Roopu o te Matakite and, despite the need for a cane, walked the length of North Island at the head of the month-long Maori Land Reform March. She was created Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1981 and was made a member of the Order of New Zealand in 1991.

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