Roka Ngarimu-Cameron, Opotiki
For services to Māori. Mrs Cameron is a master practitioner and teacher of Raranga whatu (Māori fibre weaving), as well as a committed care provider to young Māori in need. In 1990 she established ‘Te Whānau Arohanui’, a marae and foster care centre in Waitati, Otago. The centre provides independent care for youth, with an emphasis on whānau-based healing and support. It is also the base for the traditional weaving courses which Mrs Cameron teaches to both Māori and Pākehā. In 2008 she graduated from Otago Polytechnic School of Art with a Master of Fine Arts. Her dissertation explored the combination of traditional Māori weaving and loom weaving. This culminated in a solo exhibition, ‘Toku Haerenga/My Journey’, held at the Dunedin Public Art Gallery in 2008. Since 2008 Mrs Cameron has been a lecturer in traditional arts at the University of Otago.