Samuel Mita Carter

Ngāti Raukawa, Rangitāne, Ngāti Kahungunu

1913 - 1998

Samuel Mita Carter was born in Masterton and educated at the Māori Agriculture College in Hastings and Hikurangi College in Carterton. In 1930 he won a bursary to study law at an American University but was unable to take it up. He worked as a master builder and was a newspaper correspondent for The Wairarapa Times Age. Carter was a qualified Quantity Surveyor, a historian and a writer. He was a member of the Wellington Conservation Board, the Masterton Branch of the Historic Places Trust, the Queen Elizabeth National Trust, and various Māori trusts. He wrote many articles which are stored in the Turnbull and Masterton Libraries for research purposes. He donated essays on Wairarapa Māori leaders to the Turnbull Library in 1988; these include Tamahau Mahupuku, Karaitiana Te Korou, Te Whatahoro Jury, Marihaa Rangi-ta-kai-waho, Hiko Piata, and Piripi Te Maari. Prior to his death Carter was doing research work for the Wellington Regional Council on wahi tapu in the Wairarapa region. As one of the authors for The Dictionary of New Zealand Biography. Volume One. 1769-1869 he was a recipient of the Wattie Book Award. He lived at Pirinoa.

Biographical sources

  • Phone conversation with Pat Carter. 8 Mar. 2004.
  • Correspondence with Samuel Mita Carter, 6 Nov. 1992 and Oct 31, 1997.
  • The Turnbull Library Record 21.2 (1988): 10.

    Non-fiction

  • Early Palliser Bay. Featherston, N.Z.: Featherston, 1982.
  • Carter presents a history of Palliser Bay which draws on Māori legend and tradition and early Pakeha settlement history and reminiscences. He begins by discussing one of the earliest English settlers in the district, John Purvis-Russell, who arrived in New Zealand in 1844 and established a sheep farm of 10,000 acres at Whangaimoana in Palliser Bay. He discusses Cape Palliser Lighthouse which was built in 1897 and writes of the Matakitaki Reserve situated at Cape Palliser which was made a reserve in 1871 and is highly significant to Māori because of its many associations with the legends of Kupe. Carter comments on the commercial fishing at Ngawi which began in 1821, and describes key geographical areas and lakes, traditional Māori history, pas and settlements, and local personalities.
  • "Te Rangi-taka-i-waho, Te Manihera ?-1885." The Dictionary of New Zealand Biography. Ed. W. H. Oliver. Vol. 1. 1769-1869. Wellington, N.Z.: Allen & Unwin; Dept. of Internal Affairs, 1990: 498-499. Rpt. in People of Many Peaks 1769-1869 [The Māori Biographies from The Dictionary of New Zealand Biography, Volume 1] Wellington, N.Z.: Bridget Williams; Wellington, N.Z.: The Department of Internal Affairs, 1991. 258-261.
  • Co-authors Mita Carter and Angela Ballara. A biographical account of Ngāti Kahungunu leader Te Manihera Te Rangi-taka-i-waho and a description of his various land dealings selling land to the Crown and leasing land to settlers.
  • "Te Maari-o-te-rangi, Piripi 1837?-1895." The Dictionary of New Zealand Biography. Ed. W. H. Oliver. Vol. 1. 1769-1869. Wellington, N.Z.: Allen & Unwin; Dept. of Internal Affairs, 1990: 467-468. Rpt. in People of Many Peaks 1769-1869 [The Māori Biographies from The Dictionary of New Zealand Biography, Volume 1] Wellington, N.Z.: Bridget Williams; Wellington, N.Z.: The Department of Internal Affairs, 1991. 203-205.
  • Co-authors Mita Carter and Angela Ballara. A biography of 19th century Ngāti Kahungunu leader Piripi Te Maari-o-te-rangi who fought persistently against the Crown agents and Pakeha pastoralists who sought Māori land in the Wairarapa.
  • "Te Korou, Te Retimana ?-1882." The Dictionary of New Zealand Biography. Ed. W. H. Oliver. Vol. 1. 1769-1869. Wellington, N.Z.: Allen & Unwin; Dept. of Internal Affairs, 1990: 466-467. Rpt. in People of Many Peaks 1769-1869 [The Māori Biographies from The Dictionary of New Zealand Biography, Volume 1] Wellington, N.Z.: Bridget Williams; Wellington, N.Z.: The Department of Internal Affairs, 1991. 201-202.
  • Co-authors Mita Carter and Angela Ballara. Carter and Ballara write a biographical account of Te Retimana Te Korou and discuss his involvement in land sales in the Wairarapa.
  • "Te Hiko Piata Tama-i-hikoia ?-1881." The Dictionary of New Zealand Biography. Ed. W. H. Oliver. Vol. 1. 1769-1869. Wellington, N.Z.: Allen & Unwin; Dept. of Internal Affairs, 1990: 449-450. Rpt. in People of Many Peaks 1769-1869 [The Māori Biographies from The Dictionary of New Zealand Biography, Volume 1] Wellington, N.Z.: Bridget Williams; Wellington, N.Z.: The Department of Internal Affairs, 1991. 170-173.
  • Co-authors Mita Carter and Angela Ballara. A biography of 19th century Ngāti Kahungunu leader Te Hiko Piata Tama-i-hikoia who migrated to Nukutaurua when the Wairarapa was invaded by tribes in the 1820s and 1830s. He returned to Wairarapa in the early 1840s where he became involved in leasing land to Pakeha and in selling his fishing rights in Lake Wairarapa in 1876.
  • "The Preservation of the Māori Oral Tradition." Mita Carter. Oral History in New Zealand 3 (1990-1991): 5-6.
  • In this paper, presented at the NZOHA Summer School at Masterton in January, 1990, Carter discusses the Whare Wananga established in 1860 at Hautawa in the Wairarapa, which had the function of preserving whakapapa, whakatauaki, waiata, moteatea, and traditional history. Carter lists the men who were expert in these oral traditions and writes of the traditional rites and customs that accompanied the reciting of whakapapa.

    • Papers/Presentations

  • Papawai, the Māori Parliament. No details.
  • Unpublished paper of 300 pages.
  • Māori Memories. No details.
  • Unpublished paper of 420 pages.
  • Nga Ika-o-Tangaroa. No details.
  • Unpublished paper of 420 pages.
  • Treaty of Waitangi, Hokianga, Kohimarama. No details.
  • An unpublished dissertation of 250 pages.