NZ History

[christine liava'a]

Does anyone know whether there have ever been any Maori people who left NZ to become Christian missionaries elsewhere?

If so, who, when, and where?

I am attempting to compile a list of all Polynesians who served as missionaries elsewhere than their own countries- there are many from Tahiti, the Cooks, Samoa, Hawaii, Tonga- but I cannot find any Maori from NZ, even though they were one of the first groups to receive missionaries.

[Jamie Mackay]

If you try doing an advanced search on the DNZB site - http://www.dnzb.govt.nz - click on Find, then Advanced Search - you can search for Maori who were missionaries .

I only looked through the first few results (and most were missionaries within NZ), but these might be of interest:

Papahia, Hone Tana 1856-1859? - 1912
Te Rarawa and Nga Puhi; Anglican clergyman, missionary
'Papahia and [Archdeacon H. A.] Hawkins travelled to the Melanesian islands in 1907, to examine the feasibility of Maori clergy becoming teachers for the Melanesian mission. Papahia was the second known Maori clergyman to visit Melanesia, after Henare Wiremu Taratoa, who accompanied Bishop G. A. Selwyn in 1852. The two missionaries recommended that the Reef Islets in the New Hebrides (Vanuatu) be established as the base for future Maori missions, after deciding that the islands met adequate standards of health, food, language and 'friendliness'. A permanent Maori mission was never established, but Maori clergy have continued to visit the islands.'

And looking at the Taratoa essay:
Taratoa, Henare Wiremu ? - 1864
Ngai Te Rangi missionary, teacher, war leader
'Taratoa travelled extensively with Bishop Selwyn, assisting with Selwyn's religious mission. In June 1852 he sailed in the Pacific with the bishop, and with the missionary William Nihill was left on Mare Island in the Loyalty Islands to teach the islanders who had already been converted to Christianity by Samoan lay preachers. Taratoa was there for several months.'

There may well be others on the site.