Harry Delamere Barter Dansey

Harry Dansey was born in Auckland of English and Māori descent. He was brought up in Rotorua and was educated at Parnell Primary School, a primary school in Rotorua, and Rotorua Boys’ High School. He served in the Māori Battalion in World War II where “his love of writing was put to good use in the collection material for the War Diaries.” In 1942 he married Lena Margaret Hikaka and they had four children. In 1947 he commenced his journalism apprenticeship with the Hawera Star as part of the war rehabilitation, and in 1951 went to Marton to become editor of the Rangitikei News. From 1952-1961 he worked as feature and leader writer and cartoonist for the Taranaki Daily News. He later became a senior reporter and feature writer for the Auckland Star, where he focused on Māori and Pacific Island issues, New Zealand history and medicine. He won the English-speaking Union’s Travelling Scholarship in Journalism in 1967. In 1968 he was awarded the Cowan Memorial Prize for journalism for his series of articles on the problems facing Pacific Islanders in New Zealand urban society. In 1969 he was the NZPA representative on the Royal Society of New Zealand’s Cook bicentenary scientific expedition to Tonga and the Cook Islands. Dansey was a prolific writer; the majority of his work appeared in newspaper columns between the 1950s and early 1970s. He also wrote poetry, short stories, a play, and was an accomplished artist. He wrote for radio and spoke on the NZBC programmes “Looking at Ourselves”, “Insight”, and “Matter of Moment”, and contributed book reviews. He was in a number of radio plays and hosted a weekly “Hot Line” session on Station 1ZB in 1971. He lectured on Māori culture for the Department of Continuing Education at Auckland University. In 1974 he became advisory editor of Marae magazine and worked alongside editor Whai Ngata. Dansey was New Zealand’s first Race Relations Conciliator; he died at the age of fifty-nine just eighteen days after retiring from this position. He was awarded the MBE for services to journalism in 1974. Much of his writing is stored at the Auckland Institute Library. He served on the Taranaki Museum and New Plymouth Public Library committee. He served on the Orakei Marae Reserve Trust Board, the Auckland Institute and Museum Council and he was a member of the Auckland City Council. He was a lecturer in Māori Studies at the University of Auckland’s Continuing Education Department.

Whai Ngata writes: “Harry Dansey was a doyen among journalists, respected by newspaper editors and a friendly shoulder for young reporters to lean on when the spring of ideas dried up. He wrote about visiting dignitaries, vice regal garden parties, he chased criminals around the country, he covered coronations, court cases and the hundreds of other sources of news stories. His first love, the stories that made those big eyes of his twinkle, were stories on Māori battles, how places got their Māori names, Māori customs and how they were translated into modern day usage....Harry Dansey was a busy man. After leaving the Auckland Star he became a city councillor and Race Relations conciliator.”

Biographical sources

• Correspondence with H. R. Dansey, 29 Dec. 1997.
• Te Kaunihera Māori: New Zealand Māori Council Newsletter 6.1 (1969): 6.
• Callan, Louise. "The Gentleman of Māori Affairs." Te Māori 6.1 (1973/74): 26-29.
• Marae magazine 1.3 (1974): 19.
• Into the World of Light: An Anthology of Māori Writing. Ed. Witi Ihimaera and D. S. Long. Auckland, N.Z.: Heinemann, 1982
• The Illustrated Encyclopedia of New Zealand. Ed. Gordon McLauchlan. Auckland, N.Z.: David Bateman, 1986. 284.
• Whai Ngata "Harry Dansey: A Model for Those who Choose His Craft." Tu Tangata 33 (1986/87): 43.