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Hoani Retimana Waititi, known as Johnny to his many friends, was only 39 when he died, but his short life was packed with achievement and his ideas, energy and humour were an inspiration to his people. He was born at…

Wī Whitu was born on 4 December 1908 at Maungapōhatu, at the height of Rua Kēnana’s religious leadership there. His parents were Whitu Te Rangimakā (Makā) Tawa (or Kanuehi) of Hāmua, a Tūhoe hapū in Ruātoki, and his…

Ramai Hayward was a pioneering documentary and feature film-maker. She trained as a photographer in the mid-1930s and had established her own studio in Auckland when she starred in Rudall Hayward’s landmark film…

According to reliable sources Samuel Marsden was born on 25 June 1765, at Farsley, Yorkshire, England, the eldest of the seven children of Bathsheba Brown and her husband, Thomas Marsden. He was baptised at Calverley,…

Rewi Alley was born in Springfield, Canterbury, on 2 December 1897 to Frederick James Alley, a schoolmaster, and his wife, Clara Maria Buckingham, who was active in the temperance and women's rights movements. He was…

Charles Oliver Bond Davis was born in Sydney, Australia, probably in 1817 or 1818, one of five children of Irish migrants Ann Calder and her husband, Joseph Davis, a cutler. His parents named him after the Irish patriot…

Thomas Samuel Grace was born to John Grace and his wife, Sarah Lawrence Cox, on 16 February 1815 in Liverpool, Lancashire, England. He married Agnes Fearon on 23 July 1845 at Whitehaven, Cumberland, and they had 12…

Moetū Haangū Ngāwai was born on 5 May 1910 at Enihau, her family’s home, a mile north of the East Coast township of Tokomaru Bay. Her parents, Te Rā Haangū Ngāwai, a farmer, and his wife, Te Ipo Hārata Te Awhi Kaahi…

Born in Maungatautari, Waikato, on 8 June 1905, Wiremu Te Ranga Poutapu, known as Piri (Bill), was of the Tainui people Ngāti Korokī. His father was Pouaka Winikerei, a carpenter, and his mother Rangitaau Paraki. The…

Frank David Winter (registered as Francis David Charles) was born at Waipukurau on 5 January 1906, the first child of Caroline Blanche Thomas and her husband, David Horatio Winter, a telegraph linesman. His grandmother…

Communist and trade unionist Bill Andersen was one of the best-known figures in New Zealand’s radical left in the middle decades of the twentieth century. An influential union leader in the 1950s and 1960s, he…

Margaret Orbell was one of New Zealand’s leading authorities on traditional Māori literature. She published prolifically, for both academic and general audiences, and her books achieved critical and popular success.…

Samoan-born graphic designer Joseph Churchward was an internationally renowned typeface designer whose work graced record covers, billboards, newspapers and popular literature such as posters and brochures around the…

Walter Edward Gudgeon was born in London, England, on 4 September 1841, the first child of Thomas Wayth Gudgeon, an upholsterer, and his first wife, Mary Johnston. The family emigrated to New Zealand in 1850 and settled…

Louis Wellington Parore was born at Te Houhanga marae, Dargaville, on 26 December 1888. According to tradition, he was the first of his people born in a European-style house and was known to his family as Te Rūma (the…

Carl Sylvius Völkner was born in Kassel, Hesse, Germany, probably in 1819; his parents' names are unknown. Trained at the missionary college at Hamburg, Völkner was one of several missionaries sent to New Zealand by the…

Frederick Baker was born at Whauwhaukauri, Hokianga, on 19 June 1908, the son of John Francis (Frank) Baker and his wife, Jane Robinson. His father was a bushman but subsequently became a dairy farmer. Baker was of…

Stephenson Percy Smith was born at Beccles, Suffolk, England, on 11 June 1840, the eldest son of Hannah Hursthouse and her husband, John Stephenson Smith, a timber and corn merchant and later a civil servant. When Percy…

Abel Janszoon Tasman was born, probably in 1602 or 1603, at Lutjegast, Groningen, the United Provinces of the Netherlands (the Dutch Republic). His first wife was Claesgie Heyndrix, with whom he had a daughter named…

William Brown was born probably in Dundee, Angus, Scotland, in 1809 or 1810. After studying law he was admitted as a Writer to the Signet. He did not practise for long in his homeland. In 1839 he and his wife, Jessie…