Wāhine Māori in Australia

Māori people, ideas and objects have been intrinsically tied to the colony of Sydney since the early 19th century. However, histories of Māori mobilities to Australia usually concern themselves with male warriors, explorers, footballers and celebrities, written by non-Māori academics from a hetronormative and patriarchal perspective. Those academics and writers often wrongly genderise roles, people or artefacts - and we know if a mistruth is told often enough it becomes a fact.

In this talk, researcher Jo Maarama Kāmira will dispute those ‘facts’ and discuss how she researched and found wāhine Māori who from 1810 travelled to this continent we now know as Australia – and the remarkable contribution they made despite being written out of the historical narratives.