Ngāi Tahu wāhine honoured

Congratulations to Arihia Bennett, Elizabeth Cunningham and Megan Tamati-Quennell on their King’s Birthday Honours. Arihia (Ngāi Tahu, Ngāti Porou, Ngāpuhi) has been made a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit (CNZM) for services to Māori, governance, and the community. Arihia was Te Rūnanga o Ngāi Tahu CEO for 12 years, taking up the position in 2012 and serving until earlier this year. Megan Tamati-Quennell (Te Ātiawa, Ngāti Mutunga, Kāti Māmoe, Ngāi Tahu, Waitaha) has also been made a Companion to the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to Māori and First Nations art. Elizabeth Cunningham (Ngāi Tahu, Ngāti Irakehu, Ngāti Mutunga ki Wharekauri) has been made Companion of the King’s Service Order (KSO) for services to governance. Elizabeth has represented Koukourarata on the Te Rūnanga o Ngāi Tahu board since 2006. Read more about these amazing wāhine below.

Arihia Bennett

Arihia is the longest-serving and first female chief executive of Te Rūnanga o Ngāi Tahu. She has guided the organisation through post-earthquake recovery, Covid-19 recovery and has seen the iwi reach significant investment and distribution milestones.  In 2021, Arihia was appointed Chair of the Ministerial Advisory Group to the Royal Commission of Inquiry into the 2019 Christchurch terrorist attack. She was CEO of He Oranga Pounamu from 2011 to 2012, and before this managed Ō Tāpara Lodge in Piopiotahi (Milford Sound). She is a member of the Pūhara Mana Tangata Māori advisory panel to the Ombudsman’s Office and has been a member of the New Zealand-China Council. She is a member of the Global Women’s Network and the Tuahiwi Māori Women’s Welfare League. Arihia has served on the Boards of Barnardos New Zealand and the Christchurch Women’s Refuge (now Aviva). In 2008, she was made a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit. Arihia was also a director of the Ngāi Tahu Development Corporation from 1999 to 2002, and chairperson until 2005. Arihia’s early career was anchored in social work, and she has worked tirelessly since those early days to enable and improve the position of whānau.

Megan Tamati-Quennell

Megan is a curator and writer. She began her training at the National Art Gallery in 1990 and has curated numerous exhibitions at iwi, national and international level. She has elevated and supported many Māori and First Nations artists and built a significant collection for Te Papa Tongarewa. In 2023, she was appointed as curator of the Sharjah Biennial for 2025, the first Māori curator invited to work on an international project of this scale. Megan has also dedicated her talents to advancing the profile of Ngāi Tahu artists, curating in the first Ngāi Tahu arts festival in 2000 and ‘Mo Tatou’ (2006), the first major survey of Ngāi Tahu art. Her work is recognised as foundational in strengthening Ngāi Tahu arts. She has been the Curator of Modern and Contemporary Māori and Indigenous art at Te Papa since 2004. She worked as the inaugural Kairuahi Taketake Toi Onaianei Indigenous Curator Contemporary Art at the Govett Brewster Art Gallery from 2020 to 2022.

Elizabeth Cunningham

Elizabeth has served Ngāi Tahu and Māori for decades. Much of her mahi has included significant governance positions including serving as President of the Māori Women’s Welfare League Rāpaki branch from 2009 to 2022, having been a member of the league since 1978. Elizabeth has a nursing background and has contributed enormously in the areas of health and education. She was on the Canterbury Area Health Board from 1991 to 1993 and was the chair of Kawa Whakaruruhau for the Bachelor of Nursing and Midwifery at Ara. She has also been active in environmental areas. In 2016, she was appointed a Commissioner for Environment Canterbury and led its climate change policy, one of the first in New Zealand. At a local, regional and national level Elizabeth has advocated for improvements for Māori. Elizabeth has been a regional member of the Civil Defence and Emergency Management Group since 2020 and is a Justice of the Peace.