When Ngaire McCarthy became president of the NZARH in 1998 she was only the third women to hold the post. Mabel Wilson served for a year in 1960-61 and Blanche Winn served two years between 1981 and 1983. But in one other respect Ngaire broke entirely new ground because she was the first Māori to serve as president. It was an important symbolic step for a variety of humanism specific to New Zealand. Being of Ngāpuhi descent via Ngati Hako/Ngati Tamatera, Ngaire was proud to proclaim herself a linear descendant of Kupe.
Ngaire McCarthy was born in Orakei in 1942, in a state house built by the Labour government of the time. A whole generation was saved by a state housing programme of the governments led by Michael Joseph Savage and Peter Fraser. And Ngaire McCarthy, for one, would never forget her debt, remaining a staunch supporter of the Labour Party her whole life.
The proximity of the wealthy at Paritai Drive drove home the inequalities that remained. Her father had served with the 9th Heavy Regiment of the 2nd NZEF Artillery in North Africa and Italy during the war and came back to New Zealand with strong views about the intrusion of the church into civil affairs. He had seen the pervasive role the Church played in Italian life in its squalid agreement with Mussolini and the fascists.
That, and the arrogance of colonial missionaries about Māori paganism were enough to ignite a lifelong distrust of religion and suspicion about its claims. As Ngaire grew up she noticed the presence of Rationalist Association banners on marches protesting apartheid and the Springbok tours, as well as against the Vietnam War and on abortion rights. Inspired by that example, she joined the Rationalist Association in 1976.
By the time I was president between 1993 and 1997, the association was in something of the doldrums, and Ngaire, who served much of that time as vice-president, was an integral part in rebuilding then going on. She oversaw the comprehensive renovations of Rationalist House, ensuring association money was used wisely. Ngaire had an excellent business head, which came from running her own business and employing staff. Her common sense business acumen was invaluable during that time.
Ngaire was entirely without egoism and factionalism, qualities as rare as they are valuable. Her sense of who she was so clearly settled that she had no need to play those sort of games.
Ngaire served as president from 1998 to 2002, during which time we continued to update our message to an inclusive humanism but without abandoning or underplaying our rationalism and atheism. She was an important bridge between the rationalist and the humanist-inclined members of our newly-renamed association. We had only recently merged with the Auckland humanists and were busy trying to build a new, less sectarian idea of what being a rationalist/humanist/atheist meant.
But it was after her time as president that she had the largest impact. Ngaire took on the role as humanist kuia, ably representing us at several prominent events. In 2014 Ngaire spoke at the Skeptics conference. You can read her address in March 2015 (Vol. 88, No, 1) issue of The Open Society. And in 2015 she had a prominent role in the NZARH Hawke’s Bay conference, ‘Future directions of rationalism and humanism’. Three years later, at the IHEU meeting in Auckland, Ngaire was once again on the podium representing the rationalist and humanist points. Ngaire brought to these events a warmth, wisdom and humanity that was genuine and authentic.
Ngaire was just as busy out of the limelight, taking on the job of revamping and modernising the Association’s library. Our library is a taonga, and Ngaire, with her natural love of learning, understood that implicitly. The combination of her business sense and thirst for learning meant the library had never been in such good hands as it was under her care. At the time of her death she was serving as a Trustee of the association.
On a personal note, I will always remember her warmth, dedication to what she believed in, and vivacity. I met her first in 1977 when she knocked on the door of my flat in Mt. Eden and told me I needed to join the Labour Party. Many an evening was spent in the late 1970s and early 1980s at her house in Paice Avenue and later her large, two- storey property on Mt. Eden Road putting the world to rights while being fed and watered in a way that fully deserved a Michelin star. Ngaire was an excellent cook and the wine we drank (a lot of wine was drunk) was always splendid. A woman of strong opinions, she was always willing to listen to the thoughts of others. Naturally a happy person, even the most dire political situation could never really darken her outlook. There was always time to laugh and refresh one’s glass.
Ngaire once quoted this saying in an article in this journal: ‘Me hoki whakamuri, kiahu whakamua ka neke’, which translates as ‘In order to improve and move forward, we must reflect back to what has been.’ Well, Ngaire McCarthy has a big part to play in our collective reflection of our association, and as individual atheists and humanists. And for me personally, Ngaire McCarthy will forever be one of the most generous and authentic people I have had the privilege to know.