Marie Therese Waiomio

Marie Waiomio was born in Christchurch of Polish, Irish and Māori descent. She was educated at Addington Convent Primary School and Sacred Heart Girls’ College in Christchuch. Marie was an adult student at Bay of Islands College in 1985. She worked as a cook in Christchurch Hospital and then moved north to Matawaia, a rural settlement between Kawakawa and Kaikohe. She worked as school secretary and as a teacher’s aid at the Matawaia Primary School. For three years Marie was secretary for the Social Work Department of the Bay of Islands Hospital in Kawakawa. Marie always wanted to write; in the 1980s she began to write poetry. Sir James Henare encouraged Marie to send her poem "The Dream" to Tu Tangata who indeed published it. She has sent two stories to the Māori section of Learning Media. Marie writes country songs and has won the original song competition twice. She is currently studying writing techniques at Northland Polytechnic Rawene under the tuition of Janine McVeigh and Eva Toia. She sent two poems ("Night Sounds in New Zealand" and "Rimu Tree") into the Access Press Grand National Poetry Stakes 1998 poetry competition in Australia. Marie graduated with an Advanced Diploma in Applied Arts in 2001. She wrote and published many stories and poems up until her death on 3 February 2004. She is buried at Akerama Marae, north of Whangarei.

Biographical sources

• Phone conversation with Marie Waiomio on 5 August 1998.
• Correspondence from Char Rutherford on 25 Jan. 2005.