Edward Ellison was born in Dunedin, the great-grandson of Raniera Erihana (Daniel Ellison). He was educated at Otakou Primary School and King Edward Technical College. He completed a Diploma of Agriculture at Telford Institute in Balclutha and since that time has been a farmer on the Otago Peninsula. He has worked with iwi in producing iwi plans and has contributed to local council plans. He is an active member of the Otakou Marae and Te Runanga o Ngāi Tahu. He is a member of the New Zealand Conservation Authority. He writes papers and presented a paper at the annual conference of the New Zealand Genealogist Society at Easter 1998 in Dunedin.
Biographical sources
- Phone conversation and correspondence with Edward Ellison, 17 and 24 June 1998.
Non-fiction
- "Sacred Stone Links Taranaki and Otago." Historic Places in New Zealand 19 (1987): 7-10.
- Ellison writes of the imprisonment of Taranaki Māori in Dunedin, N.Z. during the 1870s and 1880s and the role of local Otakou Māori in supporting and defending the cause of the Taranaki Māori. In 1985, a hikoi travelled from Taranaki to the various sights in Dunedin, N.Z. where the prisoners were confined, and decided that a memorial should be erected in memory of those prisoners who sacrificed their lives in Dunedin, N.Z. In March 1987 the memorial "Rongo" was unveiled at the Shore Street caves where the prisoners were imprisoned at one stage.
Papers/Presentations
- "Māori Life and Leisure." No details.
- Presented at the New Zealand Genealogist Society conference held in Dunedin, N.Z. during Easter, 1998.