Makereti - taking Maori to the world

by PaulDiamond (Author)

• Used

  Paperback
  2007

  $202.50

  This is a biography of one of New Zealand's first international media celebrities, Makereti (1873 - 1930). The daughter of a Maori mother and a Pakeha father, Makereti was brought up by her Maori extended family until she was sent to boarding school. She became well-known (as Guide Maggie or Maggie Papakura) throughout New Zealand and overseas as a guide at Whakarewarewa, particularly after the visit of the Duke and Duchess of Cornwall and York in 1901. She led visits of Maori concert parties (complete with carved villages and waka) to Australia and England, but dropped out of the public view after marrying for a second time in 1912 and moving to Oxfordshire. Following her divorce in 1924, Makereti enrolled as a student at the University of Oxford and died just before her thesis about traditional Maori life was due to be examined. While her remarkable story has intrigued many people, it is not well recorded. This book - a pictorial record of her life together with a series of essays - will help to rectify this situation.