During the nineteenth century, Māori women produced letters and memoirs, wrote off to newspapers and commissioners, appeared before commissions of enquiry, gave evidence in court cases, and went to the Native Land Court to assert their rights. He Reo Wāhine is a bold new introduction to the experience of Māori women in colonial New Zealand through Māori women’s own words – the speeches and evidence, letters and testimonies that they left in the archive.

Drawing from over 500 texts in both English and te reo Māori written by Māori women themselves, or expressing their words in the first person, He Reo Wāhine explores the range and diversity of Māori women’s concerns and interests, the many ways in which they engaged with colonial institutions, as well as their understanding and use of the law, legal documents, and the court system. The book both collects those sources – providing readers with substantial excerpts from letters, petitions, submissions and other documents – and interprets them. Eight chapters group texts across key themes: land sales, war, land confiscation and compensation, politics, petitions, legal encounters, religion and other private matters.

Beside a large scholarship on New Zealand women’s history, the historical literature on Māori women is remarkably thin. This book changes that by utilising the colonial archives to explore the feelings, thoughts and experiences of Māori women – and their relationships to the wider world.