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Read moreHealth and Welfare
Image: The first convention of the Māori branch of the WCTU held at Pakipaki in 1911
[White Ribbon]
Māori women were concerned about the effects of alcohol on their communities. Their health had been badly affected by introduced diseases, new foodstuffs and other changes brought about by European settlement. The WCTU offered guidelines on ways to overcome these problems. From 1894 women in Māori branches worked through this organisation to educate their communities on health and welfare. Women were aware that although they had gained the vote, it was only one means of improving their situation; they had to continue to cooperate with each other as a group in order to achieve their other goals. The WCTU gave them this opportunity in the years leading up to World War 1. Māori women involved in the WCTU were often closely connected with Te Kotahitanga. In 1896 Herena Taupopoki was the president of Te Komiti Wāhine o Whakarewarewa. She furnished reports of her women’s committee to Te Kotahitanga. Ngāwhā, the mother of Hone Heke, was a leading member of the Kaikohe branch of the WCTU and was also active in Te Kotahitanga.
Image 26: Māori organisers at the 1917 WCTU convention held in Auckland
The Māori organisers at the 1917 WCTU convention held in Auckland. Back: Wihiriwhi Hemana of Pahi branch, Kaipara and Mrs Nathan, Auckland. Front: Kathleen Noda of Batley branch, Kaipara; Nora E Walker, Gisborne, (Superintendent of Māori work); and Mrs Manakau, Pahi branch. [Women’s Christian Temperance Union]
The WCTU encouraged Māori women to join their organisation and to take the pledge against liquor and tobacco consumption. Although national WCTU conference reports of the middle 1880s refer to a Māori department of the WCTU, it was not until 1894 that the first separate Māori branches were formed. In 1895 the first issue of the White Ribbon, the newspaper of the WCTU, carried a report by Ellen Hewett about a meeting held in Wellington to initiate work amongst Māori.
This first meeting was addressed by Te Heuheu and Hone Heke, members of the New Zealand House of Representatives. They spoke in support of temperance and acknowledged Ellen Hewett and her WCTU associates. Pledge cards were printed by Ellen with allegorical pictures and Māori texts. Five hundred copies of Te Heuheu’s speech were circulated in the North Island, Nelson and Hokitika. Support for the women’s work by tribal chiefs was important and the authority of the branches was reinforced by their leaders who were women of rank within their iwi.
By 1897 Māori WCTU had been established in various parts of the country. Women such as Hera Stirling, Ani Waaka, Heni Pore, Herena Taupopoki, Sophia Te Paea Hinerangi (Guide Sophia), Emare Poroamati and Teritu Ratema were early members of the WCTU. In the following year, women from Wanganui, Greytown and Tauranga had joined Māori branches and more than 600 pledges were taken. The first Māori convention of the WCTU was held at Pakipaki in April 1911. By 1912 there were 44 Māori women’s branches of the WCTU operating. After almost twenty years in the WCTU, Māori women were still interested in the work of the organisation.
Image 23: Temperance Notice
Maori women were required to give up some traditional customs as a condition of their membership of WCTU. The Temperance Pledge, which Maori women signed in their hundreds, committed them to discontinue the practice of ta moko, a tradition of body decoration symbolising rank. It is likely that one reason for signing the pledge was because of the many deaths caused through the use of unclean implements, resulting in blood poisoning. The use of metal instead of the traditional bone implements increased the risk of infections.
Temperance Pledge
He whakaae tene naku kia kaua ahau e kai tupeka, e inu ranei I tetahi mea e haurangi ai te tangata, kia kaua hoki ahau e whakaae ki te ta moko. Ma te Atua ahau e awhina. Translation: I agree by this pledge, not to smoke tobacco, not to drink any beverages that are intoxicating, and also not to take the ta moko. May God help me. [White Ribbon, November 1898] |
Image: The White Ribbon
The White Ribbon, the magazine of the WCTU, began publication in 1895. Its first issue included reports of work amongst Māori. At the first Māori convention at Pakipaki in 1911 members requested the reports of their branches be published in Māori.
[Alexander Turnbull Library]
Report of the first Māori Convention of the WCTU 1911The first Māori convention of the WCTU was held at Pakipaki, Hawkes Bay in April 1911 and lasted for three days. Sixty five delegates representing seven Māori unions were present including district and national WCTU organisers. The idea of forming a separate national Māori WCTU was discussed by many speakers, however it was considered too ambitious. The rangatira Mohi Te Atahikoia opposed the idea of separate development by drawing the analogy of a baby being separated from its mother. A compromise was made by appointing Hera Munro (nee Stirling) to the position of General Organiser. She had responsibility for Māori unions which collectively were given the status of a District Union. (WCTU branches within a district came under the umbrella of a District Union.) Each session included a prominent person speaking on relevant topics. Several speakers gave advice on effective organising at branch level, temperance work and care of young children. Mary Hall, Principal of Hukarere Māori Girls School in Napier, delivered a paper entitled ‘Work among Young People.’ Her address produced a lively discussion and as a result a resolution was passed in support of the Young Māori Party’s policy of discouraging Māori girls from entering shearing sheds. An address was given by the newly elected vice president of the Māori District Union, Mrs Halbert on ‘Tohungaism, after which the convention resolved to ‘discourage tohungaism.’ At the close of the second day a Māori Men’s Committee was formed with the aim of prohibiting the sale of alcohol in the Hawkes Bay. In her account of the meeting, a WCTU missionary described the faces of the Māori women present as ‘bright, pleasant and intelligent, and variable in colour’. She also remarked that ‘the tattooing of the women on lips and chin mars the beauty of young and old’. Some of the Māori women were dressed as ‘daintily as the Europeans’, and others, of fuller figure, had evidently decided against wearing corsets. The attendance of the men, she noted was as numerous as the women and they too showed a lively interest in the proceedings |
Image: Hera Stirling
Hera Stirling, founding member of the Māori Department of the WCTU. [White Ribbon]
Hera Stirling was a founding member of the Māori Department of the WCTU. Of Ngāi Tahu descent she was born at Riverton, Southland. In 1906, she was working in the Wanganui district as a missionary under the guidance of Rev A.O. Williams, a prominent Anglican clergyman. While there she was appointed secretary of the newly formed Māori branch at Putiki. Her work at the mission involved tending the sick, conducting bible classes, assisting with Sunday services and fulfilling her WCTU secretarial duties. She was known throughout the district for her exceptional musical talent.
In 1908, Hera attended a congress in Wellington organised by the Young Māori Party and she heard an address by Apirana Ngata. She suggested that Pākehā WCTU branches help Māori unions within their localities.
In September of that year, a gathering was held at Tangoio to welcome the District President, Mrs Oldham. Following the welcome speeches given by the rangatira Te Teira Te Paia and Mihi Ngawakarau (President of the Māori union), Mrs Oldham addressed the assembly and Hera interpreted. In her speech, Mrs Oldham acknowledged Hera’s hard work amongst her people.
During the next 12 months, Hera and her cousin Pani Te Tau attended 16 meetings of the Hawkes Bay branches and collected 76 pledges. To meet their expenses, they both relied on personal funds. As a Māori organiser Hera started branches in the South Island, Hawkes Bay and lower North Island.
In 1910 Hera helped establish a branch at Te Hauke and at its inaugural meeting she spoke about the importance of signing the union pledge. Approximately 50 people were present and both men and women joined. By this time Hera had served almost 16 years in the WCTU.
In the following year, she was elected president of the Māori District Union at the first Māori convention of the WCTU. In a report of a World WCTU missionary, she was described as:
…the genius of the convention — one of the most beautifully poised and splendidly balanced specimens of our sex; tall, well proportioned woman with a voice of glorious sweetness; a combination of Christian grace and organising genius rarely met with anywhere. Her husband is a Church of England minister and the two are Tennyson’s ideal —’noble words set to exquisite music’.
