Matapura Ellison

Matapura Ellison's community work began with Puketeraki marae and the Huirapa Māori Committee, to which he was elected in 1973. He represented Kāti Huirapa Rūnaka ki Puketeraki on Te Rūnanga o Ngāi Tahu. His twenty years with DOC included Kaupapa Atawhai and Pou Kura Taiao work in Otago. During high-country tenure review he helped initiate cultural mapping so rūnaka representatives could use historical and cultural information when assessing the landscape.

Matapura Ellison helped initiate Ngāi Tahu’s Cultural Mapping Project while working alongside David Higgins in DOC’s Kaupapa Atawhai work. His Kā Huru Manu profile connects his contribution with local history and knowledge entrusted to him by relatives at Karitāne and Puketeraki. He described the mapping project as a resource through which later generations could understand the landscape.

Kā Huru Manu’s early paepae included Trevor Howse, Kelly Davis, Matapura Ellison, Jimmy Russell and David Higgins, while Muriel Johnstone contributed knowledge of the Ōraka Aparima takiwā.