Ngā mihinare
I tīmata te rangahautanga o te reo me ngā tikanga Māori i ngā whakapau kaha ā te hunga mihinare kia whai māramatanga atu ki te Māori kia tahuri ai ki te Rongopai.
Ko Thomas Kendall o te Rōpū o te Hāhi Mihinare tētahi o ngā mihinare tuatahi (e toru rātou) i noho tuatahi ki Aotearoa. Nānā te puka reo Māori tuatahi i whakaputaina i te tau 1815, arā ko: A korao [kōrero] no New Zealand; or, the New Zealander's first book; being an attempt to compose some lessons for the instruction of the natives. I te tau 1820 ka haere tahi rātou ko Hongi Hika, ko Waikato, ki Ingarangi mahi ai ki te Whare Wānanga o Cambridge i te taha o Samuel Lee, he kaiwete reo. Hua rawa ake i te mahi ngātahi ko te putanga tuatahi o Grammar and vocabulary of the language of New Zealand. Whai muri i te tutenga hei mihinare, ka noho a Kendall i a Tūngaroa, tamāhine a Rākau, he tohunga nō Rangihoua ki Pēwhairangi. I runga i ēnei hono ka tuhi kōrero mō te tātai arorangi Māori me te whakamahuki i te tikanga o ngā whakairo.
Te reo haumako
He nui ngā mihinare o Aotearoa i rangahau i ngā reo Kāriki, Rātene hoki. I whakaute rātou ki te tau o te reo rangatira. Inā hoki te tuhi a te mihinare rā a William Yate: ‘He reo māene, he reo rōreka te reo Māori. Inā ka kūmea roatia te kōrero, kore rawa e kiokio nei ki te taringa … he reo ora e mātāpuna ai ngā kīanga, ngā whakataukī, ngā pehapehatū maha. Inā noa ōna whānuitanga, me ōna whāititanga.’1
Nā te mihinare Katorika o Wīwī nā Louis Servant i tuhi tāna tirohanga mō te ao Māori. Nō te tau 1973 ka whakapākehātia te puka e kī ana ko Customs and habits of the New Zealanders. Nā tētahi atu mihinare nā William Williams i whakaputa te papakupu Māori tuatahi i te tau 1844. Nāwai ka whakaputaina e tōna tama me tōna mokopuna (he pīhopa anō rāua) ngā putanga ō muri mai.
Te Rangikāheke
Ko te kaiwhakaatu tuatahi pea ki te ao Māori ko Wiremu Te Rangikāheke o Ngāti Rangiwewehi. He mea ako ia ki te kura mīhana. Atu i te tau 1849 ka mahi ia mā Kāwana Kerei, me te ako anō i ngā tikanga me te reo Māori ki te kāwana. He wā e 36 pāuna i te tau ka utua ki a Te Rangikāheke, tāpiri atu ngā utu noho mōna me tana whānau. He huhua āna tuhinga reo Māori e pā ana ki te ao Māori, ā, i tuku īnati ia ki ngā tuhinga a Kerei mō ngā mōteatea e kī ana Ko ngā moteatea, me nga hakirara o nga Maori (1853), me Ko nga mahinga a nga tupuna Maori (1854), me tōna whakapākehātanga a Polynesian mythology (1855).
Te Rōpū Poronīhia
I te tau 1892 ka whakatū a Stephenson Percy Smith rāua ko Edward Tregear (he kaimahi kāwanatanga rāua tahi) i te Rōpū Poronīhia. Ko te ito o te rōpū he rangahau i ngā kōrero a te Māori me ngā iwi o Te Moananui-a-Kiwa. Ka taritaria e Smit ngā taniwha o te ao Māori, pērā i a Āpirana Ngata rātou ko Māui Pōmare ko Te Rangi Hīroa. Rātou tokotoru he tautōhito i ākona ki ngā whare wānanga o te ao (ko Pōmare rāua ko Te Rangi Hīroa i kuraina hei rata, ā, ko Ngata hei rōia), ki ngā whare wānanga Māori hoki. Nāwai ka tū a Te Rangi Hīroa hei ahorangi mātauranga tikanga tangata ki te Whare Wānanga o Yale ki Amerika. Nō muri ka tū hei ringa tohu mō te whare taonga mātauranga momo tangata o Pīhopa, ki Hawaii.
Mai anō i te tau 1892 e whakaputaina ana te Hautaka o te Rōpū Poronīhia (e haere tonu nei i te tau 2013). Ko ngā pūkenga tonu o te ao Māori ōna ētita, pērā i a Te Pēhi. Ara anō ngā whakaputanga a te rōpū pērā i ngā whakaeminga kōrero tuku iho, te kohikohinga waiata a Ngata o Ngā mōteatea (1928) me te putanga hou a Kerei e kī ana ko Nga mahi a nga tupuna (1928).
Maggie Papakura
He Te Arawa, he Ingarihi ngā mātua a Mākereti Papakura. Atu i te tau 1926 ki tōna matenga i te tau 1930, e kura ana ia ki te Whare Wānanga o Oxford. Nō te tau 1938 ka whakaputaina tōna tuhingaroa a The old-time Maori. Ko tēnei te whakaputanga matua tuatahi a tētahi kaimātai momo tangata Māori.
