Our whakapapa

Miraka (Mira) Petricevich is born on 7 August, in the Far North Māori community of Waihopo. Her mother is Makareta Raharuhi (Ngāti Kuri, Te Aupōuri) and her father is Cvitano Petricevich of Dalmatian descent.

Mira graduates from Auckland Teachers’ Training College and University of Auckland with a Bachelor of Arts, one of the first Māori women to graduate with a university degree.

Mira attends Queen Victoria Māori Girls School and Auckland Girls Grammar School followed by one year at Fagans Coaching College.

Mira is awarded a fellowship at University of Hawaii and is awarded a diploma in Social Science.

Mira is involved in the establishment of Te Rōpū Wāhine Māori toko i te Ora, Māori Women’s Welfare League.

While representing the Māori Women’s Welfare League, Mira attends the Pan-Pacific Women’s Association in Christchurch and Manila raising the profile of Māori women.

In the late 1950s, Mira marries Albert Szászy and has three children.

Mira continues to be vocal improving the lives of Māori women and also challenges many organisations, including the New Zealand Māori Council, stating that the hard-won status of women was being undermined.

Mira addresses the United Nations Decade of Women and is elected as the National President of the Māori Women’s Welfare League from 1974 – 1977.

Mira challenges feminism, which in her view, did not recognise the contemporary challenges facing Māori women. Mira also challenges the oppression of women in the hands of Māori men, sexism, and the prohibition of women speaking on the marae.

Mira continues to be politically active serving on a wide range of committees, boards and tribunals including the United Nations Human Rights Conference, and conducted many interviews for a book about the Māori Women’s Welfare League.

Mira, along with other leaders, lodges a claim with the Waitangi Tribunal (Mana Wāhine Kaupapa Inquiry – WAI 2700), relating to the Crown’s actions, policies, and processes inconsistent with the Treaty of Waitangi by undermining the rangatira status of Māori women.

Mira is made a Dame Commander of the British Empire, and is awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Laws from Victoria University, Wellington.

The University of Auckland Dame Mira Szászy Research Centre is established at the University of Auckland Business School. It is the first dedicated Māori and Pacific research facility in business and economics which aims to enhance the quality of life for Māori, Pacific, and other Indigenous Peoples.

Associate Professor Dr Mānuka Hēnare is appointed as the Founding Director. He is also the first Academic Director in Māori Business Development and is the main teaching contributor to the Postgraduate Diploma in Business (Māori Development), known as the Te Tohu Huanga Māori Business Programme. He remains as the Founding Director until his retirement from the position in 2018.

Mānuka also establishes and leads the Aotearoa Māori Business Leaders Awards and establishes the Dame Mira Szászy Māori Alumni Award in recognition of Dame Mira’s lifetime achievements and her support for Māori Business Leadership and Development.

Dame Mira Szászy passes away at age 80, 20 December 2001 at Ngataki.

Associate Professor Dr Mānuka Hēnare passes away on 23 January 2021 in Tāmaki Makaurau.

Professor Dr Carla Houkamau is appointed as the Director of the Dame Mira Szászy Research Centre and realigned it within the University of Auckland Business School and positioned it for further growth. Carla retired from the centre in 2021.

Associate Professor Dr Rachel Wolfgramm is appointed as the Director of the Dame Mira Szászy Research Centre and connected us across many faculties and transdisciplinary projects with a particular focus on sustainability.

In collaboration with UniServices, Rachel also developed and led the Te Waka Taua Rangatira Kahui PhD and postgraduate cohort, the Aotearoa Māori Business Leaders Awards, and the Auckland Business School Matariki Celebration for 2022.

Although now retired from the centre, Rachel continues to connect the centre with her research work - in particular, the Mana Wāhine Kaupapa Inquiry (WAI 2700), of whom Dame Mira Szászy was one of the original claimants.

Professor Maree Roche is appointed as the Director of the Dame Mira Szászy Centre. Maree has an extensive career in research in areas such as leadership, employee wellbeing and engagement, and is particularly focused on Māori leadership and employee wellbeing, where she draws on a Māori/kaupapa perspective.

In her role as Manutaki, she will carry on the work initiated by Dr Wolfgramm in leadership development and combine this with the need to nurture and sustain the Māori workforce.