Marie was born in Whangarei and was educated at Whananaki Primary School and Epsom Girls’ Grammar school. She studied at the School for Dental Nursing in Auckland and graduated with a Diploma in Dental Nursing. She is also a graduate of the Bible College of New Zealand. She has worked as a dental nurse in the Bay of Islands, Hokianga, Auckland and Whangarei for thirty years. She married Mange Tautari and had six children. She has worked in land issues and claims at a local level and was employed as an advisory officer for the Treaty Issues Directorate in Māori Affairs Head Office, Wellington. She subsequently worked as a consultant. She became a researcher of land issues. When her husband became ill in 1992 she moved north and cared for him until his death in 1998.
Biographical sources
- Phone conversation with Marie Tautari on 11 Sept. 1998.
Non-fiction
- "Māori Women’s Institutes 1929-1950s." Women Together: A History of Women’s Organisations in New Zealand: Ngā Ropu Wāhine o te Motu. Ed. Anne Else. Wellington, N.Z.: Daphne Brasell and Historical Branch, Dept. of Internal Affairs, 1993. 25-28.
- A detailed account of the history, goals and activities of the Māori component of the Women’s Institute in New Zealand. The Women’s Institute had its origins in 1921 and the first Māori Institute was established at Kohupātiki in 1929. By 1937 40 Māori Institutes had been formed.