New Year Honours: June Mariu a tireless worker for her people

June Mariu has long represented Maori aspirations, having been national president of the Maori Women's Welfare League, chairwoman of Te Whanau o Waipareira, and a member of the Treaty of Waitangi Fisheries Commission.

But the Te Atatu widow and justice of the peace has also been a tireless grass-roots worker, working for those close to her home overlooking Henderson Creek.

Now in her mid-70s, Mrs Mariu - or "Whaea [mother/aunty] June" as she is known to many - has devoted herself to her community, supporting students struggling with mainstream education or themselves.

A long-time physical education teacher at Rutherford College, she represented New Zealand in netball, softball and basketball.

This list is only a fraction of her contribution, and today she becomes a companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit, following up the Queen's Service Order she received in 1985.

The Herald was unable to contact Mrs Mariu, who was born into Gisborne's Waititi family but moved to West Auckland with her late husband.

However, Waitakere City Mayor Bob Harvey has known Mrs Mariu for 30 years and included her in his 2004 book Westies: Up Front Out There (Exisle Publishing).

Mrs Mariu, he wrote, "takes little credit for her work or her life's commitment, maintaining that she is merely the successor of many Maori women that have gone before, women of the stature of Princess Te Puea Herangi, Dame Whina Cooper, Dame Mira Szaszy and Dame Georgina Kirby."

Mr Harvey told the Herald yesterday that Mrs Mariu, "like a lot of Maori women, has a lot of humbleness. She has remarkable quality of serenity in leadership and the ability to calm the fiercest meetings. She is one of the pillars of Waitakere".

He said she had "turned the tide" for many of West Auckland's at-risk young people. In particular, "she has taken young women and given them support and hope and turned their lives around".

Mrs Mariu has worked on kohanga reo with Maori Party co-leader and fellow Westie Pita Sharples, was on the Maori Education Foundation and was a member of the 1988 Royal Commission on Social Policy.