Northland hapu leader Russell Kemp receives MNZM for services to Maori

Russell Kemp credits his New Year Honour to the people who guided him. Photo/John Stone

It's the 1970s and a 26-year-old Russell Kemp sits in Otamatea Marae listening to his whanau speak about the future.

He hears they are struggling and from that day on he is motivated to do what he can to make life better for his whanau.

Fast forward 45 years and the 71-year-old's resume includes leading his hapu, Te Uri o Hau, to settlement with the Crown, chairing and directing several groups, and more.

He has now been made an officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to Maori, but he does not credit himself for the honour.

"A lot of people were involved through the years in me getting this award.

"I owe it to the old people, they were the ones who set me up and guided me and got me to where I am today," he said.

Mr Kemp was born in Paparoa in 1946 but grew up on a farm in Kaiwaka.

He began his work with hapu in the 1970s when aged 26 his parents took him to the marae for a meeting with the expectation he would be moulded into a person who could contribute to his hapu and iwi.

"I knew it was going to be a long life. They talked about the present day things but they also talked about the future, and the future was going to be a long battle.

"Here we were all trying to bat along, they weren't financially well off ... I felt sorry for them so I threw my weight behind them," he said.

The list of things Mr Kemp has been involved with since then is extensive.

He lodged the Wai 229 Treaty claim with the Waitangi Tribunal for Te Uri o Hau in 1991 and was a negotiator for Te Uri o Hau, leading them in the signing of a Deed of Settlement with the Crown in 2000.

He said the Waitangi Tribunal hearings were very emotional for people.

"Some of them collapsed, some of them had to be taken away, and for some it was quite hurtful. It brought up things that were damaging for you, your family, your hapu and your tribe."

The day the Deed of Settlement was signed was a "tremendous occasion", he said.

"A lot of the old people had passed away and they weren't there but it doesn't matter - we got it over the line for them."

And his work didn't stop there. He is chairman of the Te Uri o Hau Settlement Trust and was a board member of Te Runanga o Ngati Whatua from 1995 to 2004 and chairman from 2015.

There were two people Mr Kemp particularly wanted to credit for this honour.

"The old people, and especially Sir Graham Latimer and Lady Emily Latimer. They told me to walk the doors of Parliament and to deal with the people who had all the power."