Dame Whina Cooper ONZ DBE (born Hōhepine Te Wake; 9 December 1895 – 26 March 1994) was a New Zealand kuia (Māori elder), who worked for many years for the rights of Māori, and particularly to improve the lot of Māori women. She is remembered for leading the 1975 Māori land march from Te Hāpua to Wellington, a distance of 1,100 km (680 mi), at the age of 79.

Her wide influence and nationally recognised activity led her to be acknowledged with awards in both the British and New Zealand Royal Honours Systems, and by her own people, who bestowed the title Te Whaea o te Motu ('Mother of the Nation') upon her. She is the subject of the 2022 film Whina.

Whina Cooper was born Hōhepine Te Wake, daughter of community leader and Catholic catechist Heremia Te Wake and Kare Pauro Kawatihi, of the Te Rarawa iwi, at Te Karaka, Hokianga.

From an early age, she showed an interest in her father's role, and in history and genealogy. Her education began at Whakarapa Native School. In 1907, she attended St Joseph's Māori Girls' College. After high school, she returned to Whakarapa (later Panguru) where her father wanted her to enter into an arranged marriage with Tureiti Te Heuheu Tukino V, leader of Ngāti Tūwharetoa. Cooper refused, and instead worked at a local co-operative store. She worked as a teacher for a brief time, at Pawarenga Native School. However, as one of only three teachers, she became frustrated, and found her time stretched between teaching and helping her own community. She left teaching in 1914 and was a housekeeper at the Catholic presbytery of Rawene for two years. She kept her Catholic faith her whole life.

Cooper's first involvement in politics was in the form of a land dispute over an area of leased mudflats in around 1914. The farmer who rented the land, Bob Holland, wanted to drain the estuary for farming. This would have obstructed current use of the land by local iwi for gathering seafood and for racing horses during the drier months. Heremia challenged the lease in court, and Cooper led a group of protesters to fill in Holland's drains. The protesters were eventually charged with trespassing, but they had stalled events long enough for Heremia to be successful, and the Marine Department withdrew the lease.

In 1916, she returned to work at the co-operative store, and around this time, met her first husband, Richard Gilbert, of Ngāti Wai. She married him on 10 May 1917, with only her parents' knowledge, which led to some unhappiness with her wider family and community, who felt they should have been consulted. After her parents died, the couple left the family home and moved to family land at Te Karaka, where they had to build their own home. By 1920 they had two children, and were able to borrow money from a local priest to purchase her father's home and farm at Whakarapa and the local store. There she played a leading role in business and the community, including in 1923 calling a hui that led to the name of Whakarapa being changed to Panguru. Her community leadership impressed politician Sir Āpirana Ngata, who invited her to a national hui in 1932. She worked alongside him to promote Māori land-development programmes in the Hokianga. Through him, she also met William Cooper of Ngāti Kahungunu, who became her second husband after Richard Gilbert died of cancer in 1935.

She moved to Auckland in 1949 when her second husband, William Cooper, died. Her political activity changed from local to national. In September 1951, she was elected first president of the new Māori Women's Welfare League "which was able to improve things notably for Maori women", working on health, housing, education, and welfare.

In 1957, she stepped down as president, and the annual conference rewarded her with the title Te Whaea o te Motu ("Mother of the Nation"). During the 1960s, she worked on a local level around Auckland, but kept largely out of the national spotlight.