Dame Georgina Kirby
DBE QSO JP
Kirby in 2013
11th President of the Māori Women's Welfare League
In office
1983–1987
Preceded byMaraea Te Kawa
Succeeded byJune Mariu
Personal details
Born(1936-01-31)31 January 1936
Horohoro, New Zealand
Died11 June 2021(2021-06-11) (aged 85)
Auckland, New Zealand

Dame Georgina Kamiria Kirby DBE QSO JP (31 January 1936 – 11 June 2021) was a New Zealand Māori leader and women's advocate.[1]

Background

Kirby was born in 1936 at Horohoro, near Rotorua, the eldest of 11 children of a farming family.[2] She was a member of the Ngāti Kahungunu iwi.[3][4] She attended Horohoro School, Rotorua High School, and the University of Auckland.[5] She had a number of jobs in the 1950s and 1960s including being a junior assistant teacher at Whakarewarewa School from 1953 to 1954, a toll operator from 1955 to 1956, and a training officer from 1956 to 1963 with the New Zealand Post Office.[3]

In 1977 she went abroad to study arts administration at the National Arts School in Papua New Guinea and the Aboriginal Arts Board in Sydney, Australia.[3]

Career

Kirby was connected with many organisations and events throughout her career. She was a strong advocate for Māori economic and arts development. She helped establish the Te Taumata Art Gallery in Auckland.[6][3] She was a member of the Māori Women's Welfare League from 1976 and was president from 1983 to 1987.[7][3] During her tenure, she launched health campaigns such as smoking cessation and obesity reduction.[1]

Kirby formed Māori Women's Development Incorporated to help Māori women who could not obtain loan grants.[1] She wrote the curriculum herself, and gave it out to women around the country in her numerous roadshows. In 1993, along with Marilyn Waring and Jocelyn Fish, Kirby introduced the concept of gender representation in Parliament.[3] The same year, she and 15 other leaders filed the Mana Wāhine Inquiry claim before the Waitangi Tribunal.[1]

Kirby died in Auckland on 11 June 2021, aged 85.[8]

Organisations

The following list includes some of the organisations that Kirby was connected with:

  • Māori Education Fund, trustee[4]
  • Te Kohanga Reo National Trust, trustee[4]
  • NZ Women's Refuge Foundation, trustee[4]
  • NZ Māori Artists and Writers’ Society Ngā Puna Waihanga, National Secretary 1973-84[3]
  • Te Manuka Film Trust in Wellington, trustee[3]

Honours and awards

In the 1989 New Year Honours, Kirby was appointed a Companion of the Queen's Service Order for community service.[9] In 1993, she was awarded the New Zealand Suffrage Centennial Medal.[10] In the 1994 Queen's Birthday Honours, she was appointed a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire, for services to the Māori people.[11]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 "Dame Georgina Kirby remembered as a 'strongminded, visionary' leader". NZ Herald. Retrieved 15 June 2021.
  2. ↑ "Poroporoaki: Dame Georgina Kamiria Kirby | Scoop News". www.scoop.co.nz. 14 June 2021. Retrieved 15 June 2021.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 "Georgina Kamiria 'Teoti' Smith Kirby". Kōmako. A bibliography of writing by Māori in English. Retrieved 22 June 2020.
  4. 1 2 3 4 "Rotorua born dame fights for the rights of Māori women". NZ Herald. 18 September 2018. ISSN 1170-0777. Retrieved 22 June 2020.
  5. ↑ Burke's Peerage excerpt
  6. ↑ Māori Art.irg website
  7. ↑ Godfery, Morgan (10 August 2018). "The power struggle in the Māori Women's Welfare League". The Spinoff. Retrieved 22 June 2020.
  8. ↑ Basagre, Bernadette (14 June 2021). "Dame Georgina Kamiria Kirby remembered as a 'visionary' by Māori Development Minister". Stuff.co.nz. Retrieved 14 June 2021.
  9. ↑ "No. 51580". The London Gazette (3rd supplement). 31 December 1988. p. 34.
  10. ↑ "The New Zealand Suffrage Centennial Medal 1993 – register of recipients". Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet. 26 July 2018. Retrieved 18 September 2018.
  11. ↑ "No. 53697". The London Gazette (2nd supplement). 11 June 1994. p. 33.
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