This book has been a number of years in the making, beginning as a discussion in 2009 between two scholars of Māori history – one with expertise in Māori-language sources, the other in women’s history – who wondered if these two strands could be brought together. The He Reo Wāhine project really got under way when the University of Otago’s Humanities Division funded a summer scholarship, which allowed us to employ Alexandra King in 2010 to provide research assistance to help identify sources. That financial support and Alexandra’s impressive archival research skills laid the foundations for this project, making us realise that our idea could be turned into reality. Both authors also thank the University of Otago for granting a period of research and study leave in 2014 during which time much of the book was written.
We are indebted to New Zealand’s libraries, archives and museums, and the people who care for their holdings. In particular, we thank the Alexander Turnbull Library (National Library) and all offices of Archives New Zealand from whose significant and valuable holdings we have drawn much of our primary material. We also acknowledge the Hocken Collections (University of Otago), Auckland War Memorial Museum, Sir George Grey Special Collections (Auckland City Libraries), Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa Archives, Puke Ariki Research Centre (New Plymouth City Council), Christchurch City Libraries Archives and Research Collection, and the Library of Te Rōpū Whakamana i te Tiriti o Waitangi (Waitangi Tribunal).
This volume could not have been completed without access to extensive online archives, such as the National Library’s Collaborative Newspaper Digitisation Programme which supports digitised newspapers on Papers Past, in addition to hosting Parliamentary Papers, and the Papers of Sir Donald McLean. In particular, we acknowledge the work of transcribers and translators of the McLean material, including the Māori letters completed by E Mā: Ngā Tuhituhinga a Makarini funded by Ngā Pae o te Māramatanga. Of immense value also have been the Niupepa Māori website (Waikato University), He Pātaka Kupu Ture: The Legal Māori Archive (New Zealand Electronic Text Collection, Victoria University of Wellington), New Zealand’s Lost Cases (Victoria University of Wellington), the Māori Land Legislation Database (University of Auckland Library) and Kete Horowhenua (Horowhenua Library Trust). We acknowledge the many funding bodies, scholars and heritagesector staff who helped establish and maintain these valuable online resources.
The authors thank the expert readers whose generous and considered advice and insights have strengthened this volume. Our appreciation extends to colleagues who attended seminars and conference papers presented on this project, from its initial airing at the Pacific History Association Conference in Wellington in 2012, then subsequently at the University of Otago and the University of Alberta, where feedback helped shape the manuscript. We particularly wish to acknowledge our colleagues of the University of Otago’s Centre for Research on Colonial Culture, Megan Pōtiki, Paerau Warbrick, Michael Stevens, Barbara Brookes, John Stenhouse, Kate Stevens, Jane McCabe, Tom Brooking and Tony Ballantyne, as well as Merata Kāwharu, Poia Rewi, Angela Middleton and Michael Allen, who have all provided advice and guidance, or read drafts, at different points in the project.
This volume rests on considerable intellectual labour and scholarship over decades, to which our bibliography attests. He Reo Wāhine would not exist without the academic foundation of such works as Frances Porter and Charlotte Macdonald’s My Hand Will Write What My Heart Dictates; The Book of New Zealand Women edited by Charlotte Macdonald, Merimeri Penfold and Bridget Williams; Barbara Brookes’s, A History of New Zealand Women; and the many years of translation and scholarship of Māori texts by the likes of Jane McRae, Ngapare Hopa and Margaret Orbell.
A book such as this is a team effort. We were fortunate that Sam Elworthy of Auckland University Press was enthusiastic on first hearing of our project, and encouraged us as we brought the manuscript to fruition. We also wish to express our gratitude to all the team at the Press who helped in the production of this wonderful book, in particular Jennifer Garlick for copy-editing, Stephanie Pohe-Tibble nāna i whakatika ngā tini hē o ngā whakapākehātanga, Jane McRae for proofreading, Katrina Duncan for design, Carolyn Lewis for the cover, and Louisa Kasza for managing the process.
Heoi anō he mihi nunui ki ngā tāngata e kōrerotia nei i roto i tēnei pukapuka, ki ngā wāhine Māori anō hoki nā rātou ngā kupu i tuhi, i whakahua rānei, kia rangahaua nei e māua hei whakamārama i ngā āhuatanga o te rautau i ora ai rātou. I a koutou ngā pikinga me ngā hekenga o taua wā; i riro mā koutou ngā pīkaunga taumaha e waha kia ora ai ō koutou uri o ēnei rā.