Profile Text
Birth Name: Nanaia Cybele Mahuta
Place of Birth: Auckland, New Zealand
Date of Birth: 21 August, 1970
Ethnicity: * father – Māori, one quarter Rarotongan Cook Islander, one eighth Irish, one eighth English * mother – Māori, one quarter English
Nanaia Mahuta is a New Zealand politician. A member of the Labour Party, she has been Minister of Local Government, from 5 November, 2007 to 19 November, 2008, and again, from 26 October, 2017 to 1 February, 2023; Minister for Māori Development, from 26 October, 2017 to 6 November, 2020, Minister of Foreign Affairs, from 6 November, 2020 to 11 November, 2023, and Minister of Disarmament and Arms Control, from 1 February, 2023 to 11 November, 2023; as well as, a Member of the New Zealand Parliament for Labour party list, then for Te Tai Hauāuru, then for Tainui, and then for Hauraki-Waikato, cumulatively, from 12 October, 1996 to 14 October, 2023. She is the first female MP with a moko kauae (Māori chin tattoo). She is affiliated with the Waikato-Tainui, Ngāti Maniapoto, and Ngāti Manu.
Nanaia is the daughter of Lady Raiha Eliza Edmonds and Sir Robert Te Kotahi Mahuta, a politician. Her father was the first Māori leader to negotiate a satisfactory compensation settlement with the New Zealand government for confiscated tribal land. She is a cousin to the current Māori monarch. Her father was born Robert Jeremiah Ormsby, and was adopted at a few weeks old by King Korokī Mahuta, the 5th Māori King, from 8 October, 1933 to 18 May, 1966 (Korokī Te Rata Mahuta Tāwhiao Pōtatau Te Wherowhero), and by his wife Te Atairangikaahu Hērangi. Her aunt, by adoption, was Te Atairangikaahu, who reigned as Māori Queen, from 23 May, 1966 to 15 August, 2006, her death. Robert’s biological parents were Robert Ormsby and Te Amohia Vaikai.
Nanaia briefly lived in Oxford, England, during her childhood, before moving back to Huntly in Waikato, New Zealand, where she grew up. She is married to William Gannin Ormsby, with whom she has had three children. William is her cousin, a grandson of Robert Ormsby.
Nanaia is a second cousin, twice removed, of rugby union player and boxer Quade Cooper . Nanaia’s great-grandparents, John Tucker Edmonds and Raiha Arapera (Eliza) Pekama, were also Quade’s paternal great-great-great-grandparents.
Nanaia’s paternal grandfather was Jeremiah Robert (Robert) Ormsby (the son of Jeremiah Ormsby and Ngapaki Ariana Turner). Robert was born in Te Kuiti, King Country. Nanaia’s great-grandfather Jeremiah was born in Pirongia, Waikato, the son of Robert Ormsby, who was from County Meath, Ireland, and of Rangihurihia (Mary Bianca) Te Raku/Raaku, who was Māori, of Ngāti Maniapoto. Nanaia’s great-grandmother Ngapaki was born in Pirongia, the daughter of James Turner and Atiria Hamuera, of Ngāti Maniapoto. Nanaia’s great-great-grandfather James was the son of William Turner, who was English, and of Ripekatangi Poutukeka/Mōkena, a Māori woman, of Ngāti Maniapoto. Nanaia is a distant cousin of actor and musician Jordi Webber , through their Ormsby line.
Nanaia’s paternal grandmother was Te Amohia Te Nukanuka-o-te-rangi Vaikai (the daughter of Kainuku Puretu Tamoko-O-Te-Rangi Ariki Vaikai and Piupiu Te Wherowhero). Nanaia’s grandmother Te Amohia was born on Ngatangiia, Rarotonga, Cook Islands. Nanaia’s great-grandfather Kainuku was Rarotongan, the son of Kainuku Parapu Ariki Vaikai, a member of the Rarotongan Island Council; and of his wife Teputiki Tamarua. Nanaia’s great-grandmother Princess Piupiu was born in Whatiwhatihoe, Waikato, and was a leader within the Tainui royal family of Māori Kings. She was the daughter of Te Wherowhero Tāwhiao and Tamirangi Ahutiatia Manahi/Manaahi, and a granddaughter of King Tāwhiao.
Nanaia’s maternal grandfather was Alfred Hamlin (Aperere Hamorana) Edmonds (the son of John Tucker Edmonds and Raiha Arapera (Eliza) Pekama). Alfred was born in Ngawha, Kaipara, Northland. John was born in Kerikeri, Northland, and was a stone mason. He was the son of John Samuel Edmonds and Marianne/Mary Ann Stickland, who had emigrated to New Zealand from Dorset, England, in 1834. Nanaia’s great-grandmother Raiha was born in Ngawha, and was a Māori, of Ngāti Manu, the daughter of Pekama Titari and Arapera Titihuia Tiaki.
Nanaia’s maternal grandmother was named Maria/Marie Ada Tipa (the daughter of Hone Tipa and Wharepereki). Marie was born in Ngawha, Far North, Northland.
Sources: Genealogy of Nanaia Mahuta – https://www.geni.com
Genealogies of Nanaia’s parents – https://www.familysearch.org