the Māori language would not die
The Māori Language Petition was driven by the mana of some of Te Ao Māori's most esteemed rangatahi groups including Ngā Tamatoa,Te Reo Māori Society and Te Huinga Rangatahi who delivered the boxes of signed papers to Parliament on September 14 1972.
Eighteen-year-old Whaimutu Dewes from TRM and his sister Cathy Dewes were also some of the movement's pioneers.
Dewes said it was like a "military procedure".
"My sister was our commander. She had the maps, she had the teams. She instructed the streets to go down and who to go with. We weren't to go anywhere on our own," he said.
At the time, Dewes was in his early years of law school which put him in charge of "what we'd call these days, logistics".
Link to article: The Te Reo Warriors who fought to ensure the Māori language would not die - NZ Herald
