Te Aomuhurangi Te Maaka Jones

Local Placenames

Maaka Jones was from a line of learned tohunga and leaders of the Ringatū Faith. This gave her a headstart and grounding that would serve and inform her the rest of her life. Knowing the rhythms of your surroundings and environs was an important part of her kete of knowledge and experience.

Maaka discusses local Te Whānau-a-Apanui place names and natural indicators to predict weather.

Collection reference 42493
Year 1993
Credits Interviewer: Puhi Rangiaho

Name and Iwi

Maaka was born at Whitianga and educated at Ōmaio School and Turakina Māori Girls’ College in Whanganui where she was junior dux of the school. She trained as a nurse at the Cook Hospital in Gisborne. In 1958, Maaka then began teaching part-time at Gisborne Boys’ High School and Gisborne Girls’ High School. In the late 1960’s she became an itinerant teacher of Māori, Social Studies, English and Art at other schools in Gisborne including Lytton High School and Waikohu College.

Listen as Maaka explains her name and iwi affiliations.

Collection reference 42493
Year 1993
Credits Interviewer: Puhi Rangiaho

Mana

Maaka believed in te reo Māori as a fundamental key to Māori culture. Throughout her career she promoted teaching te reo.

In 1974 Maaka spent a year at Christchurch Teachers’ College obtaining a certificate teaching te reo Māori. She then completed papers towards a B.A. in Māori at the University of Canterbury and Sociology at Victoria University. She was an itinerant Māori teacher in Christchurch and was instrumental in introducing te reo Māori into a number of Christchurch secondary schools.

In 1979 Maaka moved to Wellington and worked as a Māori language teacher at the Correspondence School, where she taught Māori at all levels as well as teaching te reo to several Ministers of the Crown. She was founder of the New Zealand Māori Language Teachers’ Association and was a founding member of Ngā Kaiwhakapūmau i Te Reo Māori, the New Zealand Māori Language Board.

Jones speaks about mana Māori, mana atua, mana tangata and connectedness to environment.

Collection reference 42493
Year 1993
Credits Interviewer: Puhi Rangiaho

The Ringatū Church

Maaka was brought up in the Ringatū faith and worked for the Church all her life. In 1968 she and her father, Pāora Delamere, wrote the first published text of the Ringatū faith, Te Pukapuka o Ngā Kawenata e Waru a Te Atua me Ngā Karakia Katoa a Te Haahi Ringatū (The Book of the Eight Covenants of God and all the Prayers of the Ringatū Church). In the late 1960s, Maaka and Ngoi Pewhairangi were made ministers of the Ringatū Church.

Jones talks about the Ringatū Church.

Collection reference 42493
Year 1993
Credits Interviewer: Puhi Rangiaho

Whaling and Other Sea Traditions

Jones speaks about Te Whānau-a-Apanui traditions and particularly tikanga to do with the sea, whaling and other seafaring traditions.

Collection reference 42493
Year 1993
Credits Interviewer: Puhi Rangiaho