Ko Pania Tyson-Nathan, amorangi kaipakihi Māori, ka tohua hei Kahurangi o Te Kāhui Hiranga o Aotearoa
Ko Pania Tyson-Nathan (61), te Tāhuhu Rangapū o He Toa Takitini, kua tohua hei Kahurangi o te Kāhui Hiranga o Aotearoa mō āna mahi mā te Māori, mā te ao pakihi hoki.
Engari ka manawarau ia i ngā whakamiha.
He pai ake ki a ia te mihi ki ngā kaiwhiwhi katoa kei te Rārangi Tohu Hōnore a te Kīngi. Kātahi ia ka whakarārangi i ngā Māori i awhi i a ia.
Hei tauira, ka pā pai te aroha mō tana tipuranga ake i Heretaunga, mō ngā hararei hoki me ōna huānga i Māhia (ko tōna māmā, ko Girlie, nō te whānau Taurima, nō te whānau Wairau hoki). Atu i Ōhākune, nā Ngāti Rangi i whakahōhonu ake ōna mōhiotanga ki ngā tikanga Māori. Ko Te Whanganui a Tara hoki, he wāhi i noho ai ia i ngā tau 30 neke atu, ā, i reira i rongo hoki ia i te āhua o tā Ngāti Toa Rangatira kauawhi i te hapori whānui o Porirua.
“Ko ia wāhi i noho roa atu ai au, inā te hirahira… āe, i tārai i a au.”
“He taonga te katoa ki a au.”
Ko tōna whakapapa Māori, Kotimana hoki – ko tōna pāpā ko Wynter nō ngā iwi o Strachan, o Tyson hoki – e whai pānga atu ana ki tōna wairua o te manaakitanga.
“Ko taku kuia Pākehā i whakapono ake ‘ka kore he moenga, ka kore e taurima’. Ka kore ia e manaaki manuhiri ki te kore e pai te taurima i a rātou. Ko taku kuia Māori i ‘mate ki te taurima’, ka kore ia e kaupare atu i te tangata.”
Nā reira kaare he aha ki a Pania te tunu hākari o te pō mā te 20 tāngata, te koha kete kotahi tana te taumaha, te whakapai whareiti rānei ki te kore te kaiwhakapai tari e tae ki te mahi.
“Ka kore e rerekē taku āhua ki tēnā, ki tēnā. He taonga te katoa ki a au. Mai anō au, he ‘kitchen girl’, he mea whakawhenua i a au i taku oranga katoa.”
Engari he ringawhero hoki ia. Ko te noho ki te ‘iho’ hei whakaawe panonitanga, he āhuatanga nā tōna pāpā i tohutohu ki a ia kia mahia, “aua atu te hamumu”.
Nā te Minita Rūnanga Kāwanatanga o mua hoki, nā Hekia Parata ia i āwhina kia mārama ai, ka taea e te Māori te whakataetae atu ki ngā toa, kaua mō te whakatairite ki ētahi atu.
Nā, i tana tīmatatanga ki te ārahi i te ohu o He Toa Takitini i te tau 2010, i tīmata a Pania ki te whakariterite anō i te rāngai, kia ahu ki tua o ‘te hāngi, te hongi me te haka’ i whakawhāitihia atu ai ngā mahi tāpoi Māori, otirā kia aro kē ki ētahi momo wheako whānui noa atu anō, ki tētahi māramatanga hōhonu ake e hāngai ana ki te ahurea, ki ētahi ara hoki mā te Māori i ngā mahi tauhokohoko, whakangao anō hoki.
“Me kore tētahi e wehe i tēnei whenua o tātou ki te kore i whai wheako tūturu”
Neke atu i te tekau tau kua hipa, ā ahakoa te mate urutā ā ao me ngā whiunga kino a te huarere, e ora tonu ana ngā mahi tāpoi Māori, kua urutau, ā kua hurihia. Ko ngā pakihi Māori iti, wawaenga hoki kei te tū ki te taha o ngā pakihi ā iwi. Arā ētahi kōtuinga iwi taketake, arā ētahi tira tauhokohoko Māori, ka mutu kei te nui haere te hiahia i te ao ki ngā wheako motuhake e puta ana i ngā kaipakihi Māori.
“Ka utu nui te tangata hei haere ki te hī tuna, te haere rānei ki te ngahere,” hei tā Pania. “Me kore tētahi e wehe i tēnei whenua o tātou ki te kore i whai wheako tūturu; me rāhiri e tātou ngā kaiwhakangao e rite ana ngā uaratanga ki ngā mea e whai take ana ki a tātou hei iwi. E whai pānga ana te katoa.”
He mema ō mua a Pania o te Poari Tohutohu Whanaketanga Ōhanga Māori, o te Rōpū Tohutohu Take Tauhokohoko ki te Minita, ā i tēnei wā kei runga ia i te Kaunihera Tāpoi Toitū a Te Pae Ōhanga o te Ao, i te Kaunihera Ōhanga Mahitahi o Te Moana nui a Kiwa anō hoki. I tohua ia hei Mema o Te Kāhui Hiranga o Aotearoa i te tau 2018. Kua toa hoki i a ia he tohu hei kāiarahi pakihi, ā, kua ingoahia ia ki waenga i ngā toa e 50 o Ngā Pou Tāpoi Aronga Hou i te Ao.
Tua atu i te mahi pakihi
E whakapae ana ia, he “maroke” ia ina whakawetohia ai te mahi – ka mahi i te māra, ka whai wā rānei ki tōna tāne, ki a Evan Nathan (Te Roroa, Ngāti Whātua, Ngāpuhi), ki tō rāua whānau ranu hoki, tokowaru ngā tamariki, tekau mā toru hoki ngā mokopuna.
Heoi, arā atu anō ngā kōrero whakamīharo mō Pania, ko ngā rerenga me Evan ki Crete, te kāinga o Katina, te māmā o Evan (ko te pāpā, ko Ned, he hōia o ope tauā Māori, i tūtaki ki a Katina i WWII); ko tana tohu matai, ko Tolumana’ave, nō te marae o Satapuala; ko te noho tahi a ngā whanau o Mahia ki te kaitākaro i te NBA, ki a Steve Adams, ki a Cliff Curtis te kaiwhakaari, ki a Willie Apiata VC hoki i te wā i tohua a Pania ki te NZ Business Hall of Fame; ko tana noho hoki ki te pae ka tohutohu i te Minita Kaupapa Waonga.
Katoa ērā, he tohu o te oranga angitu – me te karo i te whakamiha.
Māori business leader Pania Tyson-Nathan made a Dame Companion of the NZ Order of Merit
Pania Tyson-Nathan (61), the chief executive of NZ Māori Tourism, and a Dame Companion of the NZ Order of Merit for services to Māori and business.
But the attention makes her uncomfortable.
She’d prefer to mihi every recipient on the King’s Honours List, and then list the Māori who have helped her.
For instance, she loved her childhood in Hastings and holidays in Māhia with her cousins (her mum, Girlie, belonged to the Taurima and Wairau whānau). In Ōhākune, Ngāti Rangi deepened her knowledge about tikanga Māori. Wellington, where she’s lived and worked for more than 30 years, has also made her appreciate the way Ngāti Toa Rangatira embraces the wider community of Porirua.
“Each place where I’ve spent a substantive amount of time has been significant ... yes, it’s shaped me.”
“I value everyone.”
Her Māori and Scottish whakapapa — her dad Wynter is from the Strachan and Tyson clans — has also contributed to a deeply-rooted sense of manaakitanga - hospitality.
“My Pākehā Nan was all about ‘no-bed-no-room’. She wouldn’t have people over if she wasn’t able to make sure they would be comfortable. My Māori Nanny would ‘make room’, she’d never turn anyone away.”
So Pania thinks nothing about cooking Christmas dinner for 20, gift baskets that weigh a tonne, or doing the toilets if the office cleaner can’t make it to work.
“I don’t treat anyone differently. I value every one. I’ve always been a ‘kitchen girl’, it’s kept me grounded all my life.”
But she’s also a high-flyer. Being on the ‘inside’ to influence change was something her father advised her to do “instead of whinging”. Former cabinet Minister Hekia Parata also helped her understand Māori could compete with the best and didn’t need to be compared with others.
So, when she started leading NZ Māori Tourism in 2010, Pania set about repositioning the sector, moving away from ‘a hāngi, a hongi and a haka’ where Māori tourism had been pigeon-holed, to a broader range of experiences, a deeper cultural understanding, and opportunities for Māori trade and investment.
“No one should leave our country without an indelible and authentic experience”
More than a decade on, and despite the pandemic and devastating weather events, Māori tourism has survived, adapted and transformed. Small to medium Māori businesses now stand alongside iwi-owned operations. There are indigenous networks, Māori trade delegations and an increasing global demand for the distinct experiences Māori operators offer.
“People will pay through the nose to go eeling or just go ‘bush’,” says Pania. “No one should leave our country without an indelible and authentic experience; we should welcome investors with shared values of the things that matter to us as a nation. It’s all inter-related.”
She’s also taken her dad’s advice to heart about influencing change.
Pania has been a member of the Māori Economic Development Board, the ministerial advisory group on Trade, and is on the World Economic Forum’s Sustainable Tourism Council and the Pacific Economic Cooperation Council. She became a member of the New Zealand Order of Merit in 2018. She has also won awards as a business leader and was named among the top 50 Global Tourism Innovators.
Beyond business
She claims she is “boring” when the work button switches off – pottering in the garden or spending time with her husband Evan Nathan (Te Roroa, Ngāti Whātua, Ngāpuhi) and their blended whānau of eight kids and 13 mokopuna.
But there are still those remarkable anecdotes of her life such as escapes with Evan to Crete, the homeland of his mum Katina (his dad Ned, a Māori Battalion soldier, met her during World War II); her Samoan title, Tolumana’ave, from the village of Satapuala; the fact that whānau from Māhia sat with NBA player Steve Adams, actor Cliff Curtis and Willie Apiata VC who were there to celebrate Pania’s induction into the NZ Business Hall of Fame; and that she’s on a panel that advises the Minister of Defence.
All are symbols of a lifetime of achievement – and avoiding the limelight.
