Sir Toby Curtis, the highly respected Te Arawa rangatira, has died at his Lake Rotoiti home, aged 82. In April the Rotorua Daily Post spoke to Sir Toby as he prepared to step down as chairman of Te Arawa Lakes Trust.
Sir Toby Curtis is leaving his role as chairman of Te Arawa Lakes Trust, having ticked many of the boxes he wanted to achieve.
But the 82-year-old says there's one thing standing in the way of his ultimate dream of Māori and Pākehā co-governance - Pākehā's reluctance to fully embrace te reo Māori and culture.
"We take it for granted that Māori can pronounce every Pākehā word correctly. I am looking forward to the time when every Pākehā can say every Maori word correctly. Until that happens, we will not be running the country together the proper way."
Sir Toby's straight-shooting and mana within Māoridom is what's seen him land his many leadership roles in his career, which have largely been in the education and broadcasting sectors.
In his 16 years with the trust, he's helped it fulfil its Treaty of Waitangi settlement mandate to support the recovery and wellbeing of the region's lakes. He's also steered the ship while the trust took on a wider role within the iwi, particularly in the past three years.
While Sir Toby is looking forward to relaxing more, he isn't leaving the trust entirely and will continue as a trustee and provide guidance for interim chairman Geoff Rolleston.
Geoff Rolleston is to take over from Sir Toby Curtis in the meantime. Photo / Kelly Makiha
Rolleston, who is Te Ure o Uenukukōpako trustee representative and an experienced iwi governor, will take on the chairmanship until the trust's board confirms a new leader.
"In the past three years, in particular, the trust has developed and transitioned to a whole new level."
Rolleston said the trust's role had widened into other areas including the Covid-19 response. That's helped create jobs for iwi during a much-needed time.
He estimated the number of staff employed by the trust had grown from 20 to 170 in the past few years, thanks to the Government contracts it had taken on.
Rolleston said he was humbled and proud to step up as chairman.
"Nobody will ever be able to fill the shoes of Tā Toby – nor should we ever seek to try."
Rolleston said there were big challenges ahead for the trust in terms of climate change, the Emissions Trading Scheme and Three Waters.
To prepare for those challenges, Rolleston has been quietly learning from Sir Toby since the kaumātua indicated about 18 months ago that he would soon step down.
He said he admired Sir Toby's mana.
Sir Toby Curtis has stopped down as Te Arawa Lakes Trust chairman. Photo / Kelly Makiha
"I've been able to observe the way he moves. The way he moves in the circles of Parliament. When it's Sir Toby in the room, they all acknowledge him."
Trust chief executive Karen Vercoe said Sir Toby had been instrumental in the elevation of the organisation simply because of the mana he held not just among the trust but the entire Te Arawa tribe.
"A lot of our rangatira, they pass away and that's how they end up passing the rākau (baton). But I think it takes a great leader to do that while Tā (Sir Toby) is in the position that he is ..."
Sir Toby said it was the right time to hand on the rākau as the trust approached its centenary and with it moving into a new area.
"I'm trying to work out where to go on holiday now. I'd like to take one or two trips overseas each year but I'm not sure my bank balance will handle it now."
Sir Toby was knighted in 2014 for his services to Māori education.
He started as a primary school teacher and worked with intellectually disabled children before progressing to become principal of Hato Petera College and vice-principal of Auckland Teachers' College.
In the 1990s he was Auckland College of Education Primary Teacher Education director, Faculty Dean of the Auckland Institute of Technology and was appointed Deputy Vice-Chancellor at Auckland University of Technology in 2000.
He has also been heavily involved in Māori broadcasting, and in 1997 was appointed chairman of Te Māngai Pāho, the Māori Broadcasting Agency. He chaired a Maori broadcasting advisory committee in the late 1980s, which led to the establishment of Radio Aotearoa, iwi radio stations and Māori Television.
