Wāhine Māori in Australia

Māori people, ideas and objects have been intrinsically tied to the colony of Sydney since the early 19^th 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 heteronormative 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. 

Register now for Wāhine Māori in Australia

About the speaker

Jo Maarama Kāmira (Te Rarawa, Nga Puhi, Te Aupouri, Ngati Whakaue) is an Australian Māori who was born in Aotearoa and grew up on Dharawal Country. She is a PhD candidate and an Adjunct Fellow at the Department of Critical Indigenous Studies and Centre for Global Indigenous Futures at Macquarie University. Her research area is the histories of Māori in Australia. She specialises in Wāhine Māori, their systemic annihilation in the Australian archives and how that relates to present gendered roles in Te Ao Māori (the Māori world).

Jo's Masters research was on finding wāhine Māori who travelled to so-called Australia from the Invasion. Jo was the author of Māori in Parramatta and has written numerous other articles on Māori in Australia. She is the parent of two proud Wodiwodi Dharawal children.