Graham Anderson was born in Te Kuiti and was educated at Te Kuiti High School and Te Aute College. He continued his studies at Victoria University for two years and also studied business studies, insurance, finance and real estate in Australia and America. Anderson has worked in finance, insurance and real estate in Hamilton, Auckland, Sydney, Honolulu, and other parts of the USA. He was secretary of the New Zealand Māori Council for ten years and was Executive Director of the Council in the latter part of the ten years serving under Pei Jones and Graham Latimer. With Peter Isaac, Anderson co-edited the Te Māori magazine for a number of years, writing editorials and articles for the magazine. He has published articles in other magazines including Kia Hiwa Ra and periodicals of Māori organisations in Australia. Anderson, in conjunction with others including Professor A. T. Yarwood, received a Heritage grant from the Sydney City Council to write a book on Marsden and the Māori seminary which is titled Samuel Marsden and his Māori Seminary, Parramatta, Sydney, Australia. He has presented papers at conferences and seminars on aspects of Māori, promotion of New Zealand, marketing and training drawing upon Māori comparisons. He also composes waiata and in the late 1980s and early 1990s ran six-month courses at the TAFE Colleges in Meadowbank and St George in Sydney on te reo, tikanga and waiata and had the students compose their own waiata. Some of these waiata were performed by the performing arts groups in Sydney. Anderson has also written under the name Kereama Anihana.
Biographical sources
- Phone conversations with Graham Anderson, 13 July and 18 Aug. 1998.
- Email contact with Graham Anderson, 26 Oct. 2006.
- Te Māori 5.1 (May 1973): 5.
Non-fiction
- Samuel Marsden and his Māori Seminary, Parramatta, Sydney, Australia. Professor Yarwood, Graham Anderson. Sydney: ?, 19? No further details.
- Anderson states that this book gives an indication of the influence of Rev Samuel Marsden with Māori chiefs and their sons who were trained in the Seminary in Parematta. Anderson observes that Marsden brought them over to Parramatta to teach them aspects of farming and blacksmithing with the idea of influencing the economy of New Zealand, and secondly to foster a friendly relationship with ‘these sons’ which he hoped would stop the internal warfare and bloodshed. The seminary also helped to consolidate the Anglican mission’s structure in the first half of the 19th century in New Zealand.
- "From the Secretary." Te Māori 5.1 (May 1973): 5.
- In this first issue of Te Māori Anderson affirms its role as a platform for New Zealand Māori Council viewpoints and news of Māori iwi and activities.
Sound recordings
- "Ko Nga Taonga O Mua hei Pupuri ma Tatou." Te Ao Hou 20 (1957): 15-16.
- This speech in te reo Māori was written for radio broadcast while Anderson was still a student.