Of Māori descent, he identified with the Te Whakatohea iwi.
He was born in Omarumutu, Bay of Plenty, New Zealand, on 11 July 1912,[1] and was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire in the 1973 New Year Honours, for services to Māori education.
[2] In both 1956 and 1968 he stood unsuccessfully for a seat on the Auckland City Council.
[3][4] He was a member of the National Party and was the Northern Maori electorate secretary in 1954 and its chairman from 1965 to 1974, and again in 1978.
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