Bishop Richard Wallace at his ordination held at Ōnuku Marae in 2016
Te Hui Amorangi o Te Waipounamu is in the process of electing a Bishop to fill the role left by the sudden passing of the Right Reverend Richard Wallace in 2024.
This article takes a look back at Bishop Richard Wallace.
Richard Wallace was born at Wairewa (Little River) in 1945 and baptised at the iconic Ōnuku Church. After finishing high school in Motueka in 1964 he joined the Royal New Zealand Air Force where he worked as an aircraft technical engineer for 11 years leaving with the rank of sergeant.
It was during this time he met his wife, Mere (Ven. Mere Wallace) and became baptised into the Anglican Church.
The whānau settled in Christchurch where he attended the Māori Mission at Phillipstown. In 1982 he began to feel the call to ministry as a kaikarakia.
In 1987, then Pīhopa o Aotearoa Whakahuihui Vercoe ordained Richard Wallace as a deacon and by the end of that year Bishop of Christchurch Maurice Goodall had made him a priest.
The next few years the then Rev. Richard served as Māori Missioner in Nelson where he was a minita-a-iwi and a chaplain at Nelson Hospital before his calling as Archdeacon of Te Tai Poutini had him relocate to Hokitika.
As well as his Church ministry, Bishop Wallace served his communities where needed. He worked for the Ministry of Māori Affairs for a time as well as in the social service sector working as a Counsellor and specialising in child mental health. For 18 years he was a board member and kaumātua for the Health Promotion Forum of New Zealand where he was a champion of Māori health equity.
He was also involved in iwi and Māori development, serving on Te Rūnanga o Makaawhio including as the Upoko for a time.
Following the death of Bishop John Gray in 2015, Richard Wallace was elected as the second Pīhopa o Te Waipounamu in September 2016 and consecrated and installed in January 2017, in the process becoming the first Kāi Tahu uri to be elected to the House of Bishops.
His episcopacy was marked by his humble approach to leadership, a deep commitment to Ngāi Tahu communities and all others across the Hui Amorangi, and strengthening the identity and cohesion of Te Hui Amorangi ki Te Waipounamu.
His commitment to the RNZAF never diminished, in 2019 he and Ven. Mere Wallace were appointed Air Force Kaumātua providing cultural advice and support not only to the RNZAF but the wider New Zealand Defence Force.
He died suddenly in January 2024 in Wairoa, Hawkes Bay where he was accompanying the tūpapaku of Norm Dewes, who had also dedicated a long life of service to the people of Ōtautahi and Te Waipounamu. In a fitting tribute, his body was returned to Ōtautahi by a RNZAF Hercules and was laid to rest at Wairewa, where he had been born 78 years earlier.