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Iriaka Te Rio was born on 25 February 1905 at Hiruhārama (Jerusalem), on the upper Whanganui River. Her father was Te Rio Te Hihiri of Ngāti Hāua (Ngāti Hāuaroa), a people based mainly at Taumarunui, and of Ngāti Ruru,…

Dubbed an educational ‘saboteur’ by poet James K. Baxter, Elwyn Richardson was an educator who helped change the practice of teaching and learning in New Zealand schools in the second half of the twentieth century.1 He…

Anna Paterson Logan was born at Ferntree Cottage, Royal Terrace, Dunedin, New Zealand, on 29 September 1858, the daughter of Jessie Alexander Pollock and her husband, John Logan. Her Scottish parents had settled in…

Mohi Tūrei was born probably about 1830 and was brought up at Te Kautuku, near Rangitukia, in the Waiapu district, where his parents lived on their ancestral lands. His father was Te Omanga Tūrei of Ngāti Hokopū and his…

Tahupōtiki Wiremu Rātana was the founder of a Māori religious movement which, in the late 1920s, also became a major political movement. He was the latest in a line of prophetic descent which included Te Ua Haumēne,…

One of just four men to have both captained and coached the All Blacks in test matches, Fred Allen was arguably New Zealand’s best rugby coach of the amateur era. He was certainly the most successful; the team lost none…

Early life and marriage Sylvia Constance Ashton Warner (whose pen-name was Sylvia Ashton-Warner) was born in Stratford, Taranaki, on 17 December 1908. Her father, Francis Ashton Warner, had arrived in New Zealand at…

Thomas Bracken, the son of Margaret Kiernan and her husband, Thomas Bracken, was baptised a Catholic at Clonee, County Meath, Ireland, on 30 December 1841. His mother died in 1846, and his father, a postmaster, died in…

Tom Clark was one of New Zealand’s leading twentieth-century industrialists, and the driving force behind Crown Lynn pottery. As one of the fourth generation of Clarks to manufacture brick and pipes, he branched out to…

Leonard Cockayne, New Zealand's greatest botanist and a founder of modern science in New Zealand, was born at Norton Lees, near Sheffield, England, on 7 April 1855. He was the youngest of seven children of Mary Shepherd…

Joan Donley was a midwife whose advocacy of home births and natural childbirth helped shape modern midwifery in New Zealand. She argued that women should have the right to reject medicalised maternity care, and helped…

Pēpene Eketone was born probably in 1855 or 1856, possibly in the Mōkau district of north Taranaki. His parents were Hōne Eketone and Hera Mahina, both of Ngāti Maniapoto. Pēpene Eketone was of Ngāti Uekaha and various…

Education Douglas Gordon Lilburn was born in Whanganui on 2 November 1915, the seventh and youngest child of Robert Lilburn and his wife, Rosamund Louisa Shield. Home, until the age of nine, was the picturesque and…

Early life Alan Graham MacDiarmid, New Zealand’s third Nobel Laureate, was born in Masterton on 14 April 1927, the youngest of five children of Archibald Campbell MacDiarmid and his wife, Ruby Noel Willis Graham. Alan…

Ernest Marsden was born in Rishton, Lancashire, England, on 19 February 1889, the son of Phoebe Holden and her husband, Thomas Marsden, a cotton weaver. From his earliest schooldays Ernest showed unusual ability and won…

Paraire Karaka Paikea was the great-grandson of Paikea Te Hekeua, a prominent chief of Te Uri-o-Hau and Ngāti Whatua. His father was Karaka Eramiha Paikea, and his mother was Tuhi Harirū Maihi, daughter of Wereti and…

Fergus George Frederick Sheppard, known as ‘Ferg’ or ‘Shep’ to friends and colleagues, was the Government Architect who led the Modernist architectural transformation of the government’s building programme in New…

William Ball Sutch was born in Southport, Lancashire, England, on 27 June 1907, the third of five children. He arrived in New Zealand at the age of eight months, when his family migrated to Wellington. His father,…

Robin Williams was an influential administrator who helped shape New Zealand’s late twentieth century public service. His ability as a mathematician earned him a place in the Manhattan Project in California, part of the…

Maharaia Winiata, commonly known as Maha, was born on 29 September 1912 at Ngāhina pā, near Rūātoki, in the eastern Bay of Plenty. His parents were Winiata Piahana and his wife, Te Ruakawhena Kohu, both of Ngāi…