| Dorice Reid | |
| Office: | Judge |
Dorice Reid (June 1943 – 16 June 2011), also known by the chiefly title Te Tika Mataiapo Dorice Reid, was a Cook Islander tourism official, businesswoman and judge.[1] [2] Reid enjoyed a long career in Cook Island business, politics and tourism from the 1970s until her death in 2011.[2]
Dorice Reid was born to parents Leo Morrel and Ruby Peyroux (née Matamua), on Rarotonga, Cook Islands.[1] She moved from Rarotonga to New Zealand when she was eight years old.[1]
Reid became very influential among Cook Islanders living in Auckland, New Zealand.[1] She initially worked as a sales representative for Air New Zealand, a Radio Pacific talk show host and a journalist and reporter for South Pacific Television.[1] Reid later became the first woman of Pacific Island descent to be nominated for a seat in the Parliament of New Zealand by a national political party.[1]
Reid moved back from New Zealand to her birthplace of Rarotonga in 1983, residing in Kauare.[1] She took a position with the Cook Islands Tourist Authority as a sales manager and marketer.[1] In 1985 she and her sister, Jeannine Peyroux, acquired the Little Polynesian Resort in Rarotonga. They renovated the small resort and it won two World Travel Awards.[1]
The members of the Takitumu council, one of the three Vaka councils on Rarotonga, bestowed the chiefly title Te Tika Mataiapo on Reid during the late 1980s.[1] The title, which is named for the Cook Islands warrior Te Tika, was granted to Reid at a ceremony in Marae Te Pou Toru.[1] Reid declined multiple requests to run for the Cook Islands Parliament, citing incongruity of engaging in politics while bearing a traditional title.[1]
Reid became an advocate for tourism and the preservation of Cook Islands culture. Reid made several pilgrimages to Taputapuatea marae, a traditional religious centre of eastern Polynesia located in the commune of Taputapuatea, Raiatea, with other Polynesian chiefs.[1] She was also an active member of the Cook Islands Voyaging Society. In 1995, Reid served as the only female crew member on board the Te Au O Tonga, which sailed to Raiatea, Tahiti, Nuku Hiva and Hawaii during a three and a half-month voyage.[1] In 2002, she completed a second sailing voyage aboard the Te Moana Nui O Kiva from her home in Rarotonga to Tahiti, Huahine, Raiatea, Tahaa, Bora Bora and Mitiaro.[1]
Additionally, Reid was a member five separate Cook Islands environmental agencies and served as a judge for the country.[1] She is credited with the reintroduction of the raui system to the Cook Islands,[1] a traditional system forbidding access to or use of a resource, such as to a fishing lagoon or shellfish, for a certain period of time.[3] The system is traditionally used to preserve scarce food resources and also encourages the protection of the environment.[3]
In April 2011, Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Tom Marsters announced Reid's appointment as High Commissioner of the Cook Islands to New Zealand, based in Wellington.[4] She was meant to take office in July 2011.[1] [4]
In June 2011, Dorice Reid collapsed while attending a tourism conference in Auckland,[2] and died at Auckland Hospital on 16 June 2011, aged 67.[1]