They Called Me Te Maari

Whitcoulls, 1979. Hardback with DW. Good second-hand condition. Previous owner name inside.Fading to DW spine.

The personal story of a remarkable woman as well as a fascinating account of a significant period in the history of the Maori people. In 1913 Florence Woodhead was appointed Maori Organiser for the Women's Christian Temperance Union. She was a young pakeha woman who had grown up in unusual circumstances. Her father was the schoolteacher in a Maori village in the then remote Lake Taupo region. Florence thus gained an early fluency in the Maori language as well as an enduring love for the Maori people and an understanding of their way of life. To carry out her mission as Maori Organiser she travelled through the lawless gumfields area of the far north on horseback and often alone. She kept a diary and this narrative is based on this and edited transcripts of taped conversations in which Te Maari (now Mrs Harsant) talked with Broadcasting Corporation's Alwyn Owen about her girlhood experiences, her travels in the north and her life as a farming wife.