Patrick Anthony Lawlor was born on 12 February 1893 in Wellington, the son of Irish-born Catholics David Roche Lawlor, a stationer and bookseller, and his wife, Margaret Dennehy. Pat initially attended Sister Francis…
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James Michael Liston (registered at birth as Michael James) was born in Dunedin on 9 June 1881, one of a family of five children of Mary Sullivan and her husband, James Liston, a hotel-keeper. His parents were both from…
Samuel Duncan Parnell, a carpenter and joiner by trade, initiated the eight hour working day in Wellington. He is said to have been born in London, England, on 19 February 1810, the son of Joan Duncan and her husband,…
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According to family information, Edward Francis Harris, also known as Eruera Paranihi Hārete, was born on 13 May 1834 at Tūranga (Gisborne). He was the elder of two sons of Tukura-ā-Rangi and John Williams Harris.…
At the time of her death, Witarina Harris was described by politician Tariana Turia as a ‘cherished kuia of Ngāti Whakaue o Te Arawa waka; darling of the silver screen; and one of Aotearoa’s original movie stars’. 1…
Wī Te Tau was the third in a succession of Anglican Māori ministers from the Huata family, their careers spanning most of the history of Christianity in New Zealand. His father, Hēmi, and his paternal grandfather,…
Frederic Truby King, the fifth of seven children, was born in New Zealand on 1 April 1858 on the Mangorei farmstead, just outside New Plymouth. Both his mother, Mary Chilman, and his father, Thomas King, were among the…
Fisherman Stewart Smith transformed the ecology of New Zealand’s freshwater lakes and rivers through his many introductions of exotic fish, some of which prospered as pests and permanently damaged native ecosystems. He…
William Mason was a prominent mid-twentieth-century New Zealand artist and designer best known for his riotous, high-style handprinted interior textiles, and for wallpapers that helped radically reform the way New…
From the late 1950s through to the first decade of the twenty-first century, Peter Beaven was one of the most prominent figures in New Zealand architecture, both as the designer of instantly recognisable buildings and…
Margaret Mahy is New Zealand’s most celebrated writer for children and young adults. In a 55-year career she published more than 120 titles: novels, picture books, short stories, poems and educational texts, as well as…
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…
Ian Cross was a distinguished novelist, journalist, editor, broadcaster and administrator, best-known as the author of The God boy (1957), one of the finest and most enduringly popular New Zealand novels of the…
Content warning: This page contains information that readers may find confronting or distressing, including references to the sexual abuse of children. Commune leader Bert Potter was one of late-twentieth-century New…
Murray Ball created the phenomenally successful ‘Footrot Flats’ cartoon strip, which appeared in more than 120 newspapers worldwide during the 1980s and 1990s and spawned a stage musical, a movie and a wide array of…
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…
In spite of her own conviction that 'I shall not be "fashionable" long', Katherine Mansfield has acquired an international reputation as a writer of short stories, poetry, letters, journals and reviews. Her work has…
Peter Fraser was born on 28 August 1884 at the highland village of Fearn, Ross-shire, Scotland, the son of Donald Fraser, a master shoemaker, and his wife, Isabella McLeod. Peter's attendance at the local school was…