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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…

Te Rohu was the daughter of Mananui Te Heuheu Tūkino II and his senior wife, Nohopapa. She was born in the early part of the nineteenth century. The principal hapū of her father was Ngāti Pēhi (now Ngāti Tūrumakina) of…

Catherine Wilson Malcolm was born in Liverpool, Lancashire, England, probably on 10 March 1847, the daughter of Scots parents Jemima Crawford Souter and her husband, Andrew Wilson Malcolm, a clerk. She was called…

Whāea (mother) Betty Wark worked with ‘at risk’ Māori youth in Auckland for more than 30 years. The product of a difficult childhood, she struggled to provide a family environment to many young people whose lives had…

Whina Cooper was born Hōhepine (Josephine) Te Wake at Te Karaka in northern Hokianga on 9 December 1895. Her father was Heremia Te Wake, a leader of Ngāti Manawa and Te Kaitutae hapu of Te Rarawa and the…

Dorothy Constance Christie was born on 2 November 1893 in Wellington, the daughter of Daniel Laurie Christie, a grocer, and his wife, Eva Evelyn Helen Bell. She attended a private school in Wellington and later the…

Elizabeth Ralston Fergusson was born on 16 April 1867 at Balligmorrie, near Barr, Ayrshire, Scotland, the daughter of Eliza Ralston and her husband, James Fergusson, a farmer. Elizabeth's mother died when she was three…

Frederick Orton Hamilton was born at Greymouth on 27 December 1873, one of five children of Francis Hamilton and his wife, Jane Sarah Orton. After his mother's death his father remarried; nine more children were to be…

Ngā-kahu-whero was a descendant of the great Te Rarawa leader Te Rēinga, whose dwelling place was north Hokianga. Te Rēinga had supreme authority over the people and land of the area and this was handed down to his son…

Alison Blomfield Pickmere was born in Mount Eden, Auckland, on 14 November 1908, the daughter of Elinor Violet Croyden Woolley and her husband, Arnold George Pickmere, a railway manager. After leaving school she wanted…

Ilse Amalie Mathilde Henneberg was born in Giessen, Germany, on 12 June 1901, the second of three daughters born to Bruno Paul Eduard Henneberg, a university professor, and his wife, Helene Mathilde Fritze. Her parents…

Dickson Cornelius Savage was born at Opotiki, New Zealand, on 6 April 1884, the fifth child in a family of nine. His parents, James Savage from Ireland, a farmer and constable in the New Zealand Armed Constabulary, and…

Rangitaamo Tiahuia Taiuru was born at Waimoho, near Rangiriri in the Waikato district, on 24 July 1901. Her mother, Paretauhanga Rīwhero, was of Ngāti Hine of Waikato; her father, Moroati Taiuru of Rata in the…

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…

Alistair Te Ariki Campbell was one of New Zealand’s most distinctive poetic voices from the 1950s to the 2000s. His work, which combined lyricism and darkness, was shaped by an idyllic Rarotongan childhood, early family…

Jane Crook was born on 7 January 1894 in Ferntown, near Collingwood, Nelson, the eighth of ten children of Jane Appleyard and her husband, William Crook, a miner. A schoolteacher with whom Jane was friendly persuaded…

Rachel Selina Pinkerton was born in South Australia on 19 December 1838, the eldest of six children of Eleanor Smith and her husband, William Pinkerton. Her childhood, delightfully described in her memoir, Pioneering in…

During the 1920s the citizens of Auckland benefited from a number of munificent bequests given by Marianne Smith. An enigmatic and very private person, she was unusual in that unlike most wealthy women of the time she…

Edith Marion Collier was born on 28 March 1885 at Whanganui, the eldest of 10 children of Eliza Catherine Parkes and her husband, Henry Collier, a music shop proprietor and substantial landowner. The Colliers were a…

Joseph Firth was born in Wellington, New Zealand, on 25 March 1859, the son of Aaron Firth, a stonemason from the north of England, and his wife, Ann Priestnell. Gold fever took the family to Cobden on the West Coast…