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Jock McEwen
Biography
BiographyJock McEwen was born near Feilding on 17 February 1915, the son of the local headmaster. He lived near the local marae and from a young age spoke te reo Māori, taught by elders such as the grandparents of Eddie and Mason Durie. He attended Palmerston North Boys’ High School and did part of an arts degree from Victoria University College (unusually, beginning it while still at school) before changing his focus to law.
His real interest was with things Māori and he started in Palmerston North at the Department of Native Affairs as a cadet in 1932 - at "one and a half dollars a week," he recalled.
He had a lifelong interest in Polynesian culture, where he excelled as an expert linguist, tribal historian, composer of waiata under the pseudonym Te Oka, and a master carver.
In 1937 he was one of the founders of the Wellington Ngāti Pōneke Maori Club; in the 1940s he served on the Polynesian Society Council, and was later its president for 21 years. He played a lead role in revising the Standard Maori Dictionary - his was the sixth edition of the work originally written by the missionary Herbert W. Williams. His tribal histories of Rangitāne are highly acclaimed.
He married Ruth Durrad in 1941; they were to have three sons.
Jock served as the Resident Commissioner for Niue Island between 1953 and 1956. He returned to New Zealand, to the post of Assistant Secretary for Island Territories (Niue, Cook Island and Tokelau). Two years later he was appointed head of the Department.
In April 1963 he was appointed as a State Services commissioner, supposedly for three years; however, just six months later he became Secretary for Māori Affairs, a position he held until his retirement in 1975.
In the early 1960s he was involved in founding Upper Hutt-based kapa haka group Māwai Hakona, and was one of its tutors along with a friend from Ngāti Pōneke, Hera ‘Aunty Dovey’ Katene-Horvath, an acclaimed performer and composer. She and Jock composed many original waiata.
As Secretary for Māori Affairs Jock initiated the Kīngi Tāhiwi Memorial Cup competition for kapa haka groups in the Wellington region, and national kapa haka competitions from 1972.
From the 1960s he tutored inmates at Wi Tako (now Rimutaka) Prison in carving, some of whom became part of Māwai Hakona; after his retirement he ran a carving class at the Petone Technical Institute, which included prisoners and produced public carvings that are on display around the Wellington region, including at the Michael Fowler Centre and Pipitea Marae.
He was involved in fundraising for a marae in Upper Hutt, along with his Heretaunga Square neighbour Doctor Humphrey Rainey. The pan-tribal Ōrongomai Marae officially opened in 1976; the meeting house Kahukura, with its carvings representing New Zealand's major tribal areas and some Pacific Islands, opened in May 1989.
In April 1991 Upper Hutt Rotary Club bestowed Rotary's highest honour, a Paul Harris Fellowship Award, to Jock, a non-member. In October 1995 he was one of 13 finalists in the inaugural Senior Achievers Awards for New Zealand, but was unable to attend the presentation due to illness.
Jock McEwen died on 10 May 2010, aged 95.
His real interest was with things Māori and he started in Palmerston North at the Department of Native Affairs as a cadet in 1932 - at "one and a half dollars a week," he recalled.
He had a lifelong interest in Polynesian culture, where he excelled as an expert linguist, tribal historian, composer of waiata under the pseudonym Te Oka, and a master carver.
In 1937 he was one of the founders of the Wellington Ngāti Pōneke Maori Club; in the 1940s he served on the Polynesian Society Council, and was later its president for 21 years. He played a lead role in revising the Standard Maori Dictionary - his was the sixth edition of the work originally written by the missionary Herbert W. Williams. His tribal histories of Rangitāne are highly acclaimed.
He married Ruth Durrad in 1941; they were to have three sons.
Jock served as the Resident Commissioner for Niue Island between 1953 and 1956. He returned to New Zealand, to the post of Assistant Secretary for Island Territories (Niue, Cook Island and Tokelau). Two years later he was appointed head of the Department.
In April 1963 he was appointed as a State Services commissioner, supposedly for three years; however, just six months later he became Secretary for Māori Affairs, a position he held until his retirement in 1975.
In the early 1960s he was involved in founding Upper Hutt-based kapa haka group Māwai Hakona, and was one of its tutors along with a friend from Ngāti Pōneke, Hera ‘Aunty Dovey’ Katene-Horvath, an acclaimed performer and composer. She and Jock composed many original waiata.
As Secretary for Māori Affairs Jock initiated the Kīngi Tāhiwi Memorial Cup competition for kapa haka groups in the Wellington region, and national kapa haka competitions from 1972.
From the 1960s he tutored inmates at Wi Tako (now Rimutaka) Prison in carving, some of whom became part of Māwai Hakona; after his retirement he ran a carving class at the Petone Technical Institute, which included prisoners and produced public carvings that are on display around the Wellington region, including at the Michael Fowler Centre and Pipitea Marae.
He was involved in fundraising for a marae in Upper Hutt, along with his Heretaunga Square neighbour Doctor Humphrey Rainey. The pan-tribal Ōrongomai Marae officially opened in 1976; the meeting house Kahukura, with its carvings representing New Zealand's major tribal areas and some Pacific Islands, opened in May 1989.
In April 1991 Upper Hutt Rotary Club bestowed Rotary's highest honour, a Paul Harris Fellowship Award, to Jock, a non-member. In October 1995 he was one of 13 finalists in the inaugural Senior Achievers Awards for New Zealand, but was unable to attend the presentation due to illness.
Jock McEwen died on 10 May 2010, aged 95.
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Date of Birth17 February 1915Place of BirthNear FeildingDate of Death10 May 2010Place of DeathWellingtonPlace of ResidenceSilverstream, 50 yearsSexMaleEthnicityScots ancestry
Place of BirthNear FeildingDate of Death10 May 2010Place of DeathWellingtonPlace of ResidenceSilverstream, 50 yearsSexMaleEthnicityScots ancestryMarriage
WifeRuth Constance DurradDate1941
Date1941Family
Jock McEwen (1941). Upper Hutt City Library, accessed 12/10/2024, https://uhcl.recollect.co.nz/nodes/view/21863