Birth Name: Witi Tame Ihimaera-Smiler
Place of Birth: Waituhi, Gisborne, New Zealand
Date of Birth: 7 February, 1944
Ethnicity:
*father – Māori, one eighth English
*mother – Māori, one eighth Irish, 1/16th Scottish
Witi Ihimaera is a New Zealand author, diplomat, and university lecturer. He is known for his work “The Whale Rider.” He worked as a diplomat at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, before becoming an English lecturer at the University of Auckland.
Witi is the son of Turi Teretimana (Julia) Keelan and Te Haa O Ruhia (Thomas) Smiler. He has two daughters with his former wife Jane Cleghorn. He is of Te Aitanga-a-Māhaki.
Witi’s paternal grandfather was Thomas Pera Punahamoa Ihimaera Smiler (the son of Ihimaera Te Teira Te Hanene and Hine Te Ariki Pera).
Witi’s paternal grandmother was Teria (Daisy) Moana Pere (the daughter of Te Moanaroa Pere Halbert and Riria Winiata Kaihote). Witi’s great-grandfather Te Moanaroa was the son of Wiremu Pere (Wi Pere) Halbert and Arapera Tautahi O Te Rangi Pototi. Wi Pere Halbert was a Māori MP, who represented Eastern Māori in the House of Representatives, from 1884 to 1905. Wi Pere’s father, Thomas Halbert, was a trader from Newcastle-upon-Tyne, England, and Wi Pere’s mother, Rīria Mauaranui, was of Te Aitanga-a-Māhaki. Witi’s great-grandmother Riria was the daughter of Winiata Te Hore Kaihote and Hannah/Hana Field, whose own father, Robert Field, was a whaler, and whose own mother, Pongaroa, was Māori, of Te Aitanga-a-Māhaki.
Witi’s maternal grandfather was Kereama Graham Haatarei Keelan (the son of Wiremu (Wi Koka) Keelan and Turuhira Mahemahe of Ngāti Porou). Wiremu was the son of William (Tom) Thomas Keelan, who was from Cork, Ireland, and of Hana Ngahuia Tangaroa.
Witi’s maternal grandmother was Hoana (Flowers) Putiputi Babbington (the daughter of Renata (Len) Tupara Babbington and Matepe Tautau). Len was the son of Hone (John) Hikurangi Babbington, whose father was a whaler from Scotland and whose mother was Māori; and of Mere Arahi Pootae. Matepe was the daughter of Te Honiana Tautau and Manurahia Paku Maurirere.
Sources: Genealogy of Witi’s father – https://www.geni.com
Genealogy of Witi’s maternal grandfather, Kereama Graham Haatarei Keelan – https://www.geni.com
Genealogy of Witi’s maternal grandmother, Hoana (Flowers) Putiputi Babbington – https://www.geni.com
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