Taua Fan was born at Te Rapaki o Te Rakiwhakaputa the daughter of Rahera and Hone Taare Tikao. She was raised in Port Levy and educated at Wainui School in Little River. After leaving school she worked in the family home and hosted Hone Tikao’s many visitors. Taua Fan worked as a midwife in Rapaki and the Chathams, and after her arranged marriage to Bob Gillies she moved to Gillies’ home in Waimarama. She had four children and eventually returned to live in Rapaki where she was involved in midwifery, weaving and the Māori Women’s Welfare League.
Biographical sources
- Phone conversation with Beverley Gillies, 10 August 1998.
- Haeata Herstory 1985. Auckland, N.Z.: Haeata Herstory Collective, New Women’s Press, 1985.
Other
- "Erana Raukura Gillies (nee Tikao) Taua Fan." Haeata Herstory 1985. Auckland, N.Z.: Haeata Herstory Collective, New Women’s Press, 1985. 9-10.
- Gillies speaks of her childhood growing up at Port Levy, schooling at Wainui, Little River, and her use of the Kai Tahu dialect. She recounts how the influenza epidemic hit Rapaki and how her planned trip up to Rotorua in 1918 to visit the Prince of Wales had to be cancelled in order to nurse the sick in her community. She also discusses her work as a midwife.