Love, Makere Rangiatea Ralph

Love was born on Arapawa Island, Queen Charlotte Sound, a descendant of important Maori chiefs.

When he was three days old he was given to a great aunt, Nui Te He, and her husband, Hoani Warena, as a tamaiti whangai. He stayed with them until he was seven, when he returned to his birth family.

He had not been told that he was adopted, and leaving Te He was traumatic for him. After leaving school he went into the Native Department as a clerk. Tuberculosis developed following a rugby injury made him ineligible for service in World War II, but he became a recruiting officer.

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He became a justice of the peace in 1946, and secretary to the parliamentary representative Eruera Tirikatene 1944-49 and 1957-60. From the early 1930s he was active in the Labour Party and was on its national executive committee from 1963 to 1968. He was active in swimming, rugby (union and league) and cricket circles. He opposed the assimilationist wing of the Maori elite, arguing for more independence. He was elected to the Wellington City Council in 1862, and was later mayor of Petone.

After retirement from the civil service he was able to become more active in promoting Maori interests, especially in the restoration of stolen and illegally confiscated land.

He was made a QSO in 1975 and knighted in 1987.

He married in 1933 and had two children.

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