Skip to main content

Search

Niniwa-i-te-rangi, often known as Niniwa Heremaia, was born at Ōroi, on the east coast of Wairarapa; the date of her birth is said to have been 6 April 1854. She was the eldest surviving daughter of Heremaia Tamaihotua…

Part of: Niniwa-i-te-rangiauthored byAngela Ballara, the Dictionary of New Zealand Biography team

Mete Kīngi Te Rangi Paetahi was of Ngā Poutama and Ngāti Tūmango of Te Āti Haunui-a-Pāpārangi. He also had ties with Ngāti Apa. He was the son of Paetahi, a Wanganui leader, who fought against Ngāti Toa at the battle of…

Part of: Te Rangi Paetahi, Mete Kīngiauthored bySteven Oliver, the Dictionary of New Zealand Biography team

Born at Chanonat in the diocese of Clermont, France, on 17 May 1811, Jean Pezant, later known as Jean Étienne Pezant, was the son of a farmer, Michel Pezant, and his wife, Marie. He studied at the seminary of St Sulpice…

Part of: Pezant, Jean Étienneauthored byIan Church
There are no results for this search.

Te Rangihiwinui, also known as Taitoko and later as Te Keepa, or Major Kemp, is thought to have been born in the first half of the 1820s at Tūwhakatupua, on the Manawatū River, near Ōpiki. His mother was Rere-ō-maki,…

Part of: Te Rangihiwinui, Te Keepaauthored byAnthony Dreaver, the Dictionary of New Zealand Biography team

Thomas William Downes was born on 18 February 1868 at Wellington, New Zealand. He was the son of Emily Adele Harrington and her husband, Thomas William Downes, a surveyor who had earlier been a drawing teacher in Nelson…

Part of: Downes, Thomas Williamauthored byArthur P. Bates

Film buff, archivist, award-winning radio producer and film critic Jonathan Dennis had a sardonic wit, a brutal honesty and a genuine passion for his work. As founding director of the New Zealand Film Archive he…

Part of: Dennis, Jonathan Spencerauthored byEmma-Jean Kelly

Kīngi Matutaera Īhaka was born at Te Kao, Northland, on 18 October 1921. His great-grandfather, Parāone Ngāruhe, signed the Treaty of Waitangi on behalf of Te Aupōuri. Kīngi was the 13th of 14 children of Eru Tīmoko…

Part of: Īhaka, Kīngi Matutaeraauthored byKingi Ihaka, the Dictionary of New Zealand Biography team

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,…

Part of: Rātana, Tahupōtiki Wiremuauthored byAngela Ballara, the Dictionary of New Zealand Biography team

The time and place of Hēnare Matua's birth are uncertain. It may have been at Nukutaurua, on the Māhia peninsula, in the 1830s. Airini Donnelly, his stepdaughter, said that he returned from Nukutaurua to Hawke's Bay '…

Part of: Matua, Hēnareauthored byAngela Ballara, the Dictionary of New Zealand Biography team

William Arthur Moffatt (Māwhete) was born at Tiakitahuna (Jackeytown), south of Palmerston North, on 4 March 1880, the son of Emiri Mōkena (Emily Morgan) and her husband, William Moffatt. His mother, also known as Ārani…

Part of: Māwhete, Rangiputangatahiauthored byClaudia Orange, the Dictionary of New Zealand Biography team

John O’Shea occupies a decisive position in the development of the New Zealand film industry. He was responsible for the only feature production in New Zealand between 1940 and the early 1970s, and singlehandedly…

Part of: O'Shea, John Dempseyauthored byJohn Reid

Hōri Kerei Taiaroa was born at Ōtākou, on the Otago peninsula, probably in the 1830s or early 1840s. His father was the prominent Ngāi Tahu chief Te Mātenga Taiaroa, of Ngāi Te Ruahikihiki, and his mother was Mawera of…

Part of: Taiaroa, Hōri Kereiauthored byHarry C. Evison, the Dictionary of New Zealand Biography team