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Diana Mason was one of the country’s best-known obstetricians, delivering countless babies in a medical career spanning more than 50 years. Talented and ambitious, she built a successful practice at a time when there…

Angus McLagan was born in Mid Calder, Midlothian, Scotland, on 30 December 1891, to Angus McLagan, a limestone miner, and his wife, Agnes Campbell. He began work as a pit boy at the age of 14 and emigrated to New…

Erihapeti Rehu-Murchie was a Ngāi Tahu (or Kāi Tahu) leader and woman of mana, and a prominent activist in the fields of Māori welfare and health from the 1970s to the 1990s. She was a long-serving member and president…

Guy Hardy Scholefield was born at Dunedin on 17 June 1877, the third child of John Hoick Scholefield, an accountant, and his wife, Marion Hardy. His father died in 1885, and the family moved to Milton, South Otago. Guy'…

Tāwhiao, of Ngāti Mahuta in the Tainui confederation of tribes, was the son of Waikato leader Pōtatau Te Wherowhero and Whakaawi, Pōtatau's senior wife. He was born at Ōrongokoekoeā on the upper Mōkau River towards the…

Apirana Turupa Ngata was born at Te Araroa on the East Coast on 3 July 1874. He had connections with the leaders of Ngāti Porou. His hapū included Te Whānau-a-Te Ao, Ngāti Rangi, Te Whānau-a-Karuai and Ngāti Rākairoa.…

Francis Dillon Bell, usually called Dillon, is said to have been born in France on 8 October 1822. His father, Edward Bell, was a merchant and the British consul at Bordeaux. His mother, Frances, was the daughter of an…

Youth Sonja Margaret Loveday Vile was born on 11 November 1923 in Wallaceville, Upper Hutt. Her mother, Gwladys Ilma Vile, was a state-registered nurse; her father was Gerald Dempsey, an army major from Cork, Ireland…

Henry Sewell came to New Zealand in 1853 at the age of 45 as an official of the Canterbury Association and spent about 17½ years in the colony in three periods: 1853–56, 1859–66 and 1870–76. He became one of the leaders…

Sir Leonard Thornton was New Zealand’s outstanding military leader in the second half of the twentieth century. He demonstrated leadership, administrative skill, and diplomacy in both war and peace, becoming New Zealand…

Selwyn Toogood was New Zealand’s best-known broadcaster from the 1950s to the 1970s, as quizmaster of the enormously popular It’s in the bag radio programme. Audiences revelled in the suspense as he invited contestants…

Mōkena Kōhere was born at Waiora-ā-Tāne, Rangitukia. His father was Pākura, his mother Moahiraia. He belonged to Te Whānau-a-Rerewā, which has sub-tribal links with Ngāi Tuiti-Matua and Te Whānau-a-Tūwhakairiora of the…

Rēweti Tūhorouta Kōhere was born on 11 April 1871 at Orutua, Horoera, near East Cape. He was the first of five children of Hone Hiki Kōhere and Henarata Peretō, the daughter of Umutahi, who belonged to Te Whanau-a-…

Early life Bill Rowling was born in Motueka in the Nelson district on 15 September 1927. He was the youngest of four children born to Arthur Rowling, an orchardist, and his wife, Agnes Rubina Davy. He was christened…

Takamoana derived chiefly rank among Ngāti Te Whatuiāpiti and Ngāti Kahungunu in Heretaunga (Hawke's Bay) through his mother, Te Rotohenga, also known as Winipere. Winipere married twice: Takamoana's father was…

The distinguished writer and journalist Christine Cole Catley was one of New Zealand’s leading independent publishers of the late twentieth century. She was co-founder of the Parents Centre movement in the 1950s, and an…

Les Cleveland made important contributions to New Zealand’s visual, musical, literary and academic culture. There were overlaps, continuities and connections between all his diverse interests, which ranged from the…

Ernest Rutherford was born at Spring Grove in rural Nelson, New Zealand, on 30 August 1871, the fourth child of 12 born to James Rutherford, a mechanic, and his wife, Martha Thompson, who had been the schoolteacher at…

J.C. Sturm, also known as Te Kare Papuni and Jacquie Baxter, was a pioneering writer of poetry and short stories. Long overshadowed by her first husband, the poet James K. Baxter, Jacquie emerged in later life as a…

James Macandrew, the son of a merchant, Colin Macandrew, and his wife, Barbara Johnston, was baptised in Aberdeen, Scotland, on 18 May 1819. Little is known of his early life; he is said to have attended Ayr Academy and…