Interview with Sophie Kaa

Sophie Kaa was born in October 1903 in Iwitea, Wairoa, the eldest daughter in a family of twelve. Discusses her whakapapa descending from Ngai Tahu Matawhaiti, Ngati Kahungunu and Rongomai Wahine on her father's side and Rongowhakaata on her mother's side. Talks about her father, a faith healer who believed in a Christian God, and chairman of the Maori Council in the early 1900s. Talks about the family's Anglican religion and her father's attitude towards the Ringatu and Ratana religions. Describes his high moral values, emphasis placed on education and attitudes to his daughters' upbringing. Talks about sleeping arrangements on the marae. Recalls her father teaching his daughters how to fight physically. Talks about her grandparents and mentions that her maternal grandmother, an ariki from Whangara, was a descendant of Porourangi.

Describes her fascination with the English language, a planned arranged marriage and her marriage to an English speaking Maori who became minister at Tirau College. Describes her mother's nursing of flu victims in 1918 and the effect of the flu on Maori society. Talks about her scholarship to the Church of England school Hukarere College and changing her name. Discusses the importance of cultivating and retaining the Maori language and integrating it into the education system.

Talks about her involvement with the Maori Women's Welfare League, spirituality, tapu and tikanga with particular reference to menstruation, education on menstruation, women giving up their babies, the lack of birth control and Maori forms of abortion. Talks about her own twelve children, their education and career choices and contemporary attitudes to elders.

Language - (small amount of Maori)

Venue - Gisborne : 1988

Interviewer(s) - Judith Fyfe

Venue - Gisborne

Arrangement: Tape numbers - OHC-004132-OHC-004135

Quantity: 3 C60 cassette(s). 1 transcript(s). 1 Electronic document(s).

Finding Aids: Transcript(s) available OHA-1632 and OHDL-000571.

Alternative form available: Listening copies available at LC-3220 to LC-3222