Much loved leader was learned in Tainui history and tikanga

Dr Tui Adams came from working-class roots. Photo / Sarah Ivey

Dr Tui Adams, QSM, Tainui kaumatua. Died aged 77.

Year in year out, Dr Tui Adams was a fixture on the paepae - the place reserved for orators - at Turangawaewae Marae.

It was no different at King Tuheitia's coronation commemorations last week.

In past years, the 77-year-old cut a dapper figure, suited up with matching hat in the middle of the action.

A senior Kingitanga spokesman Dr Adams, a Ngati Maniapoto kaumatua, was one of the important home speakers on the Friday.

An authority on Tainui tribal history - which takes in Waikato, Maniapoto, Hauraki and Raukawa, he reminded iwi from around the country about the origins of the movement, when chiefs from around the country gathered in 1858 in Pukawa to choose a king.

He drew a line of connection from that time to today and asked that a council of ariki or bluebloods from other iwi be set up to talk with and advise the King.

Mr Adams reasoned that the chiefs were there at the inception of the movement and had a place in the kingitanga's future.

But while his voice was strong, old age had caught up to him and he died in the early hours of last Saturday. A much loved leader, he cut a scholarly figure for much of his later life but he came from strictly working-class roots.

For 30 years he was at the Horotiu freezing works as a boner and before that he was a truckie.

Ngati Maniapoto's Tom Roa said his father was the "old fulla when Tui was the young fulla" at the trucking depot. "He was always sharp. He'd take the New Zealand Herald into the smoko room, know what was going on around the world and do the crossword all in 20 minutes."

One of the tribe's most revered leaders, Henare Tuwhangai, saw that spark and took him under his wing, tutoring him in Tainui history and tikanga. Tui Adams made it his mission to pass that knowledge on.

He was a kaumatua at te Wananga o Aotearoa and a senior tutor of Te Arataki Manu Korero programme.

Noticing a sharp decline in the numbers of Tainui kaumatua who were well versed in their own stories, Dr Adams developed Te Arataki. Its purpose was to replenish the paepae with kaumatua who could speak with authority about themselves.

The wananga's chief executive, Bentham Ohia, said the programme was an extension of who Dr Adams was as a person, generous and committed to sharing what he had learned over his lifetime.

His status was such that when King Tuheitia was ordained in 2006, it was Dr Adams who placed the Bible on his head and ran much of the formalities that day.

But he did not see himself as particularly special. He once told a reporter sheepishly that his own people were on at him to remind journalists to use his doctor honorific, which he gained when Waikato University awarded him an honorary degree in 2003.

In 2000 he was awarded a Queen's Service Medal for services to the Maori Community. He had 10 children, 21 mokopuna and 15 great-grandchildren.