Ray Ahipene-Mercer
| Ray Ahipene-Mercer | |
|---|---|
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| Wellington City Councillor for the Eastern Ward | |
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In office 2000–2016 |
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| Preceded by | Sue Kedgley |
| Succeeded by | Chris Calvi-Freeman |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 24 October 1948 Wellington, New Zealand |
| Nationality | New Zealand |
| Spouse(s) | Christine (Chris) Viggars (deceased) |
| Education | Upper Hutt College |
| Occupation | Musician, guitar-maker, environmentalist, politician |
Ray Ahipene-Mercer (born 24 October 1948) is a former New Zealand politician, who served as a Wellington City Councillor for the Eastern Ward, only the second Māori to be elected to the Wellington City Council and the first Māori to be elected since 1962. He is also a guitar-maker, musician, and well-known environmentalist, and was one of the leaders of the Clean Water Campaign, which led to the end of sewage pollution of the Wellington coast. He was a candidate for mayor of Wellington in the council elections of 2007, the first Māori ever to contest the position.He was runner-up to the incumbent. As a musician and guitar maker he usually uses the name Ray Mercer, and has used the name Ray Ahipene-Mercer for other purposes including his environmental work and politics.
Ahipene-Mercer is of Māori, Welsh, Swedish, and Scots descent. He descends from the ancient Wellington tribes of Ngai Tara and Ngati Ira. Direct ancestors were members of the Ngati Ira people displaced after conflict in the Wellington area in the 1820s to the Wairarapa. Ahipene Mercer's closest Māori links now are at Pirinoa, and Kohunui Marae, the people of his maternal grandmother. His mother's father, from whom the name "Ahipene" was passed down, was of the Ngati Kahungunu, tribe from the area around Porangahau, and also of Ngai Tahu descent. This grandfather was also of Scots descent, through James Wybrow, a whaler. There is a strong family link with Ruapuke Island, between Stewart Island and the South Island.
Ahipene Mercer's mother, Ramona Ahipene, married Eugene (Gene) Mercer, a seaman of mixed Welsh and Swedish ancestry who arrived in New Zealand after World War II. Both parents were both active members of the celebrated Ngati Poneke Māori club in Wellington City, and later the famous Hutt Valley Mawai Hakona group. The whole family was closely associated with the urban Orongomai Marae. Eugene Mercer was a staunch trade unionist.
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