A Lady from the Past

A snippet of navy history. On the 1st July 2013 Maureen Waaka (nee Kingi) the Miss New Zealand of 1962 passed away in Rotorua.  Click on image to enlarge.

As Miss New Zealand, Maureen played an important role in the campaign which used HMNZS Royalist to promote New Zealand tourism and food exports. The main event was in San Francisco.
Pretty rarified stuff for a young fella used to fighting for the last of that rice pudding stuff. There was a heads up that NZ wine was not all gold in colour in a half gallon jar. And cheese was snot wrapped in silver paper or that yellow soap the pusser served.
I still have a lasting impression that this was a first class effort that generated an awareness that we came from a pretty special country.
Since she hit the headlines in her younger day as the country’s first Maori ‘Miss New Zealand’ pageant title holder Maureen felt a personal responsibility to serve her community, and her Maori community in particular. She did that extraordinarily well over her lifetime as a City Councillor and Justice of the Peace. She was a much admired figure throughout Rotorua and across New Zealand.
Maureen was also a very talented vocalist and I can remember her joining our very hard working Maori Concert Party which received many accolades.  Thanks DJR for the snippet.