The late Sir Toby Curtis lays out a wero to future generations in new book written with Lorraine Berridge McLeod

Toby Curtis
Unfinished Business – Ki hea āpōpō

Sir Toby Curtis with Lorraine Berridge McLeod

The late Te Arawa leader sets out his life from poverty to  knighthood with frank views on education and racism

Knowing that he was unwell, over the past year the late Sir Toby Curtis worked with long-time friend Dr Lorraine Berridge McLeod to record his life and views on key areas from his stellar career — especially Māori education and leadership, and his experience of racism. 

Toby Curtis – Unfinished business: Ki hea āpōpō follows Toby’s progress from his humble origins through family life and his mahi as a teacher and lecturer, government adviser in education and broadcasting, and leader of the Te Arawa iwi confederation. 

Interspersed throughout are text boxes that take a more academic approach to key issues like the loss of te reo, religious colonisation, educational underachievement and government policy.

The result is an engaging story of a life emerging from the shadows of a Pākehā-led model to a bicultural society, balanced with opinions that will challenge and inform thinkers for years to come. 

Sir Toby passed away on 17 August. This book stands as his legacy to the nation he cared about so passionately, and sets out a wero (challenge). 

As the subtitle indicates, Tā Toby felt his life’s work to be unfinished, with a long way to go to for Aotearoa. Ki hea āpōpō!

Moe mai, moe mai, moe mai rā e te rangatira. Rest in peace, chief. Your words carry forward the business for others to finish.

The authors

Sir Toby Curtis (Ngāti Rongomai, Ngāti Pikiao) had a distinguished teaching career before lecturing at AUT University. After retiring to Rotoiti, Rotorua, he led the Te Arawa Lakes Trust for 16 years, among many other roles. Sadly, he passed away before this book could be published. 

From a farming background, Lorraine Berridge McLeod was a teacher, principal lecturer at AUT, dean of early childhood education in Auckland and then associate professor of education in the United Arab Emirates. A long-time colleague of Sir Toby’s, she lives in Taranaki. 

Publication Date: 17 November 2022 |  ISBN: 978-1-99-004230-0  |  RRP $39.99

Paperback, 234 x 153 mm portrait, 180 pages, black & white with colour sections     

Moe mai rā e te rangatira, ko Tā Toby Curtis

Dr Sir Noble Tamihana (Toby) Curtis
1939–2022

Kua hinga te tōtara ki te Wao Nui a Tāne. The totara has falled in the forest of Tane.

Moe mai, moe mai, moe mai rā e te rangatira. Rest in peace, chief.

  

Oratia Books joins with the Curtis whānau, friends, colleagues and Te Arawa iwi in mourning Dr Sir Toby Curtis (Ngāti Rongomai, Ngāti Pikiao), who passed away on 17 August. 

 

Knowing that he was unwell, over the past year Sir Toby worked with friend and colleague Dr Lorraine Berridge McLeod to record his life story and views on key areas from his stellar career — especially Māori education and leadership, and his experience of racism. 

 

His unique memoir intersperses biography with text boxes that analyse key issues like the loss of te reo, religious colonisation, educational underachievement and broadcasting policy.

 

As Tā Toby’s health failed, Toby, Lorraine and the Oratia team pulled forward publication of his book. Sadly time was against us publishing before he passed, but at least he saw the book away to the printers. 

 

Toby Curtis — Unfinished Business: Ki hea āpōpō will publish on 17 November this year, three months after Toby’s passing. 

 

It will stand as his legacy to the nation he loved, and sets out a wero (challenge) — as the subtitle indicates, he felt his life’s business to be unfinished. The book concludes by enjoining coming generations to carry on his work, quoting Te Arawa orator, Kepa Ehau:

 

Whaia ko te mātauranga 

Hai whitiki mo te iwi 

Me ngā uri

Ka toa ai.

Pursue the wisdom of knowledge 

So your efforts and achievements 

May be the springboard

For future generations to thrive and prosper.