Indigenous Archives - Page 26 of 36

Matekoraha Te Peehi Jaram

Maori Ngati Maru, Ngati Awa and Ngati Pukeko; weaver, tailoress, community leader

Tuini Ngāwai

Tuini left behind a rich legacy of songs and an unsurpassed standard of composition, work and community leadership.

Nandergoroke

Bunurong woman from the 1800s who was taken captive and enslaved by white men

Hannah Retter

Muaūpoko; founding mother, midwife

On 18 May 1893 the Speaker of the lower house of the Kotahitanga parliament introduced a motion from Meri Mangakāhia, requesting that women be given the right to participate in the selection of members. It was suggested that she come into the house to explain her motion, and later that day she addressed the parliament – the first woman recorded to have done so. She requested not only that Māori women be given the vote, but that they be eligible to sit in the Māori parliament

Edith Kanakaʻole

Edith Kanaka’ole (also affectionately called “Aunty Edith”), a native Hawaiian composer, chanter and dancer, was a champion for the preservation of native Hawaiian culture and arts. Kanaka’ole lead the highly celebrated dance school, Hālau o Kekuhi, where her legacy as a Kumu Hula, or chief practitioner of traditional Hawaiian dance and culture, took flight. 

Catherine Carran

New Zealander who experienced the wars of the north, the goldrush, pioneering on a sheep run and small farms, and acting as midwife and nurse to a region in the process of settlement, and met all these challenges with exceptional fortitude.

Katerina Nēhua

In March 1931 Nēhua entered an open sea endurance competition at Rushcutters Bay, Sydney. Later in the month at the city’s Balmoral Baths she broke the world record with a swim of 72 hours 9 minutes. She went on to break her world record in May 1931 at Brisbane’s municipal baths, swimming for 72 hours 21 minutes.