Dame Temuranga June Batley-Jackson, an advocate for urban Māori, dies
Monday, 28 March 2022
The founding chief executive of the Manukau Urban Māori Authority, Dame Temuranga June Batley-Jackson, has died. She was 82.
Leaders from across te ao Māori remembered Batley-Jackson as a tireless advocate for Māori. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said she was “formidable, fearless, and no nonsense”.
Ardern noted Batley-Jackson’s advocacy for urban Māori, and said her thoughts were with the whānau, including Māori Development Minister Willie Jackson, one of Batley-Jackson’s three children.
Her service was acknowledged in 2010, when she was made a Dame Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to Māori.
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One of her moko, journalist Hikurangi Jackson, said she died early Monday morning.
In recent years, she had been living beside her sister at a rest home in Taumarunui. It’s understood she had been unwell for some time.
Hikurangi Jackson said she had been receiving residential care, and had been lucky to live with her sister and have support from whānau while in care.
“She’s been a warrior woman for decades,” he said.
“Always one of the most glamorous grans in Māngere, Nanny June was just the same whether she was hanging with politicians or prisoners. Once a cleaner, she was formerly made a dame in 2010.”
Batley-Jackson and husband Bob Jackson moved to Auckland in the 1960s. In 1986, with Brian Joyce, they established the Manukau Urban Māori Authority, to help Māori socially and economically, as Māori society changed through rapid urbanisation.
From Ngāti Maniapoto, Batley-Jackson lived in Porirua for many years, before moving to Auckland. She worked as a cleaner, before moving into management roles, starting her own company, and then working to serve her community through various roles.
Her beginnings made her humble, whānau said, and helped her become a leader in her later years. She stayed as executive of the Manukau Urban Māori Authority until 2009, when Willie Jackson took over.
She also received a Queen’s Service Medal in 1995.
In 1990, Batley-Jackson joined the Parole Board and went on to become its longest-serving member.
“She was a huge supporter of giving people a second chance,” Hikurangi Jackson said.
“At our house, growing up, we had people who had come out of prison and would visit her. She thought people could fail once or twice, but still improve.”
With the Manukau Urban Māori Authority, and help from people such as actor Anzac Wallace, she built Ngā Whare Waatea in Māngere.
She would be travelling back to that marae to lay in rest this week, Hikurangi Jackson said.
She would be buried on Friday, at Māngere Bridge, beside her husband, Bob Jackson.
Together, they had three children, Vaughan, Rowanne, and Willie. They have many mokopuna – 10 grandchildren and six great-grandchildren.