Te Wharehuia Milroy
James Te Wharehuia Milroy was a New Zealand academic and expert in the Māori language. He was of Ngāi Tūhoe descent. Together with Tīmoti Kāretu and Pou Temara, Milroy was a lecturer at Te Panekiretanga o te Reo, which the three professors founded in 2004.Biography
Born on 24 July 1937, Milroy was the son of Kararaina Takurua and Frederick Milroy, and a grandson of the Tūhoe chief Takurua Tamarau. During the early 1990s, Milroy became a listed member of the Waitangi Tribunal Association. He worked and lectured at the University of Waikato in the Māori Department, alongside Tīmoti Kāretu.
In the 2003 Queen's Birthday Honours, Milroy was appointed a Companion of the Queen's Service Order for public services. In 2005, he was conferred with an honorary doctorate by the University of Waikato, and in 2009, he was a recipient of the Māori Creative New Zealand Te Waka Toi award. Milroy was appointed a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit, for services to Māori language, in the 2012 New Year Honours. He collaborated with Kāretu on the book He Kupu Tuku Iho, the first book published entirely in te reo Māori.
Milroy died on 7 May 2019, at the age of 81.
He was predeceased by his wife, Marion Rongomaianiwaniwa Milroy, in 2010. She was descendant of the Te Arawa and Ngāti Kahungunu tribes and also a female speaker for the Te Panekiretanga Māori Language Institute.
