October 30, 2014
Cherrington pou of Murihiku community
A pou of Southland’s Māori community, Riki Cherrington, has died in Invercargill after a long illness. He was 72.
From Ngapuhi, Mr Cherrington moved to Murihiku more than 50 years ago to work at Ocean Beach Freezing Works.
He helped establish an urban marae for nga iwi katoa in Invercargill, and supported the construction of a whare tupuna at Murihiku Marae.
He was a teacher and kaumatua of Māori studies at the Southern Institute of Technology and kaumatua at the University of Otago’s Southland campus, as well as teaching te reo and tikanga at Invercargill prison.
Mr Cherrington, was made an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit earlier this year for services to Māori and education.
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