Sir John Grace dies aged 80

Tu Tangata, Issue 26, 1 October 1985, Page 45

Sir John Grace dies aged 80

Poroporaki

One of Maoridom's more distinguished figures, Sir John Te Herekiekie Grace, KBE, MVO, EA, died in Wanganui recently. He was 80.

A leader of the Tuwharetoa people of the central North Island, Sir John had an impressive public service record, being private secretary to two New Zealand Prime Ministers and two Maori Affairs Ministers.

He was New Zealand’s first High Commissioner to Fiji when that country gained independence in 1970.

He served on a host of Maori trust boards and environmental and educational bodies and was recognised as an authority on Maori history, traditions and literature.

Sir John died in Belverdale Hospital after a short illness.

Following the service at Turangi, there was a private cremation.

Sir John’s ashes went back to Lake Taupo, on the western shores of which his grandfather established an Anglican mission station exactly 130 years ago.

Sir John was born on July 28, 1905, the son of John Edward Grace, JP, and Rangimohia Herekiekie 11, chieftainess daughter of Kingi Te Herekiekie and the last of the senior ariki tapairu line of Ngati Tuwharetoa.

Sir John’s paternal forebears introduced sheep farming to the Maori land owners of Taupo and also helped with the introduction of trout to the lake.

Sir John was educated at Tokaanu Primary School, Wanganui Technical College and Te Aute College. He subsequently played representative rugby for Southern Hawke’s Bay and Auckland. and won golfing titles on the East Coast.

In later life his primary leisure-time interests became trout fishing, gardening and the study of Maori geneology and mythology.

At 21, he joined the Lands Department as a survey cadet in Auckland and switched to Maori Affairs two years later.

He won a commission first in the Territorial Army and later in the RNZAF, where he received an efficiency award and rose to squadron-leader during World War 11. Sir John was private secretary to the late Peter Fraser when he was Prime Minister. He was private secretary to E.B. Cor-

bett, Maori Affairs Minister from 1950 to 1957, then was similarly associated with Keith Holyoake when he was Prime Minister, and finally with Walter Nash when he held the Maori Affairs portfolio in the late 19505.

Sir John attended Queen Elizabeth during the Royal tour of New Zealand in 1954 and for his services was made a member of the Victorian Order (MVO). He received his Knighthood in 1968. He was appointed New Zealand Commissioner in Fiji in the beginning of 1970 and when that country gained its independence, Sir John became New Zealand’s first High Commissioner there.

He was the first non-Pakeha to take a diplomatic post abroad since Mr Clive Bennett’s appointment to Malaya in the late 19505.

A director of several companies, Sir John also served many years on the Historic Places Trust Board, the Geographic Board, the Maori Purposes Fund Board, the Maori Education Foundation, the Nature Conservation Council, the National Council for Adult Education, the Lake Taupo and Rotoaira Forest Trust boards, the Tuwharetoa Trust Board and the Lake Taupo Re-

serves Board. He served a term on the Wanganui Museum Board of Trustees, and was a vice-president of the Wanganui Education Advancement Committee.

He represented the Maori people on the Dominion council of the National Party and twice stood (unsuccessfully) as National candidate for the Wanganui seat.

Sir John was a member of the Wanganui Club and Wellington's Wellesley Club.

In 1959 he authored “Tuwharetoa,” a history of the Maori people of the Taupo district. Now a standard textbook for Maori studies, it represented 15 years’ research into Grace family archives and other records.

Sir John ran a substantial sheep and cattle station near Otoko on the Parapara Rd. In the 1950 s he lived there with his first wife, the former Marion Linton McGregor, of Southland. She died in 1962 and Sir John six years later married Dorothy Merle Kircaldie, of Wellington, a descentant of the founder of Nelson city. Lady Grace survives her husband.