ASRA 2020 Award Winner

Piripi Walker

Kāore te kūmara e korero mō tōna ake reka

The kumara (sweet potato) does not speak of its own sweetness.

This Māori whakataukī aptly describes the recipient of the ASRA award 2020 – Piripi Walker (Ngāti Kikopiri hapū of Ngāti Raukawa Te Au ki  te Tonga).

Piripi trained as a te reo Māori (māori language) producer and worked at Te Reo Irirangi o Aotearoa Radio New Zealand from 1982-1987. He was manager of Te Upoko o Te Ika Wellington Māori Language Radio Station from 1987-1991, trustee and secretary of the station’s trust board from 1994 - 2016. He was secretary of Ngā Kaiwhakapūmau i te Reo Wellington Māori Language Board for many Waitangi Tribunal and court cases relating to Te Reo Māori and deputy chair in 2016.  Te Reo Māori became an official language in 1987 – through his and the efforts of many others.

I first met Piripi at Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa the National Library of New Zealand in the 1990s when he was working with Te Wānanga o Raukawa (a Māori tertiary education provider) archival recordings and then later with the Te Upoko o Te Ika radio station recordings.

He is passionate about people and what they have to say, all the while playing down his own efforts in preserving their work and their words.  He has spent many hours of his own time researching, writing, annotating, translating and talking to people and encouraging others to do this mahi (work).

Piripi also brings knowledge to the technical work of preserving an audiovisual collection, he remembers who made the recordings, what equipment they used, what the circumstances and common practices were – invaluable metadata for archival work.  He gives generously and with good humour.  He has been associated with the Library, especially Oral History and Sound with curator Linda Evans, for many years.

He has the foresight to understand the need for preserving audiovisual material and as he has been inspired by others he inspires us all to see how Te Reo Māori should be “enjoyed, spoken, laughed and lived”. 

A champion of Māori radio, Māori language and Oral History and a worthy recipient of the ASRA Award 2020. 

Ka rawe tō mahi e hoa