Tribes of Muriwhenua: Their Origins and Stories (Reprint)

Working on a research project into tourism in Muriwhenua, the author felt it was impossible to discuss this topic without starting from the beginning and she describes this book as a "story of beginnings, evolution and consolidation, applied to the people who make up the tribes of Muriwhenua". It is the history of the Far North and the iwi Ngati Kuri, Te Aupori, Ngai Takoto, Te Rarawa and Ngati Kahu. Taking each of these one by one, the author gives whakapapa and a variety of lively and dramatic stories. All have been discussed and agreed with local kaumatua. The stories have been expertly translated by Dr Merimeri Penfold, widely respected for her knowledge of and feel for the te reo Maori; and the book is illustrated with photographs of the Muriwhenua landscape. Dr Dorothy Una Urlich Cloher was formerly head of the James Henare Research Centre at the University of Auckland and has published widely in specialist journals and has produced a number of high profile reports into Maori issues including sustainable economic development and childhood education. Dr Merimeri Penfold (Ngati Kuri), CNZM, is the Kuia of the University of Auckland, was made a Companion of the NZ Order of Merit for services to Maori in 2001. She has been a consultant to the government on a number of Maori social and child issues. Her latest project prior to "The Tribes of Muriwhenua", was a translation into Maori of Shakespearean sonnets:"Nga waiata aroha a Hekepia / Love sonnets by Shakespeare: nine sonnets" (Holloway Press, 2000).