Tipi Tainui Rōpiha was a notable surveyor and public servant of Ngāi Toroiwaho of Ngāti Kahungunu and Rangitāne. Tipi was a vertern of World War One and joined the New Zealand Field Artillery on the August 1916. He served in France until he was wounded in the abdomen in October 1918 and invalided out. After returning he attended lectures at Canterbury College and passed the surveyors’ examination in 1920. While studying he was accepted for a position in the Department of Lands and Survey and in October 1919. This would help lead Tipi to a new opportunity in 1935 when the under-secretary of the Native Department asked for a surveyor to work on the Auckland land consolidation schemes. Rōpiha was nominated because of his knowledge of the Māori world. Tipi would have the most significant chance to advance Maori land ownership when on the 1st of October 1948 Rōpiha became under-secretary for Māori Affairs becoming first Māori to head the department for nine years.
Tipi Tainui Rōpiha
Died 1978
Image: Downie, T M, active 1940s-1950s. Tipi Tainui Ropiha and his secretary – Photograph taken by T M Downie. Tourist and Publicity. Ref: PAColl-3063-1-06. Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington, New Zealand. /records/22348673
