‘I am writing to you for you to hear’: Māori Women, Politics and Petitions in the 19th Century
The Public History Talks are hosted by the Ministry for Culture & Heritage History Group at the National Library of New Zealand. They are usually held on the first Wednesday of the month from March to November.
Talks in this series are usually recorded and available online
- Date: Wednesday, 4 April, 2018
- Time:
12:10pm to 1:00pm
- Cost:
Free — booking is not required.
- Location:
Programme Rooms, Te Ahumairangi (ground floor), National Library, corner Molesworth and Aitken Streets, Thorndon
- Contact Details:
Petitions in a colonial era
During the nineteenth century, hundreds of Māori, including around 145 women, petitioned the Government, for remedies to injustices visited on their communities and families.
Come and hear Dr Angela Wanhalla talk about these women and their concerns. Learn about this important body of Māori writing that can offer insights into Māori women’s experiences of the colonial era.
Get an insight into Māori women’s experiences of the colonial era
Collective petitions have helped force significant political and social reform in New Zealand. In the same year that New Zealand women won the right to vote, two Kāi Tahu women from Taumutu addressed a petition to their representative, the MHR for Southern Māori, H.K. Taiaroa, praying for relief.
In September, as women were celebrating the passage of the 1893 Electoral Act, a Māori woman petitioned the government’s Native Affairs Committee about the confiscation of her whānau’s land at Taranaki.
These women are just a few of the hundreds of Māori petitioners who addressed the state during the nineteenth century, including around 145 women who appealed for remedies to injustices visited on their communities and families.
About the speakers
Angela Wanhalla teaches in the Department of History and Art History at the University of Otago, Dunedin. Her talk will draw upon her most recent book, He Reo Wāhine: Māori Women’s Voices from the Nineteenth Century, (Auckland, 2017), co-authored with Māori-language scholar and historian, Lachy Paterson.
