Gabrielle Mary Rikihana (21 January 1927 â 2 March 2025) is a New Zealand teacher and community leader. In 2020 she was awarded the Sir Kingi Ihaka Award, which recognises a lifetime contribution.
Rikihana is MÃÂori, and affiliates to NgÃÂti Raukawa. Rikihana trained as a teacher in Wellington and taught at Foxton School. She then travelled to England for the Coronation, spending two years there. She taught in schools in London and travelled to Spain and Norway, as well as attending the unveiling of a memorial to soldiers who died at El Alamein during World War II but had no known graves. Before she returned to New Zealand in 1955, Rikihana wrote a radio play for the BBC Home Service called Life in a Maori Village.
Rikihana completed a Master's degree with a thesis titled Invariance: a study of some conserving behaviours in young children in 1972 at Massey University.
After taking the option of retirement at the age of sixty (after 40 years of government service) as a teacher and later Inspector for the Ministry of Education in Hamilton, she was persuaded to become involved at Te WÃÂnanga o Raukawa.
Rikihana is a Waitangi Tribunal claimant for NgÃÂti Korokë. During the tribunal hearings, she described the land lost to her hapu âÂÂWe have virtually no land of commercial value. Alongside NgÃÂti Pareraukawa and NgÃÂti Hikitanga, we are the most landless hapà « of the inquiry district. We hold only the shadow of the land." The hapu are claiming for the return of the old à Âtaki maternity hospital and surrounding land.
In 2020 Rikihana was awarded the Sir Kingi Ihaka Award by Creative New Zealand, which is awarded "to kaumÃÂtua/kuia in recognition of their contribution to strengthening the continuity of MÃÂori culture through their support of ngÃÂ Toi MÃÂori".