Gloria Herbert was born in Pawarenga and was educated at Mt Albert Primary School, Kowhai Intermediate and Auckland Girls’ Grammar School. She was nurse in Auckland. She married Jim Herbert and raised a family of seven children on their dairy farm in the Hokianga. Gloria has worked as a work development scheme co-ordinator in Pawarenga, was co-ordinator for Te Runanga o Te Rarawa and was Māori Liaison Officer with the Far North District Council. She ran Pawarenga Consultancy Services and was a member of the Northland Conservation Board from She has also been a member of the Northland Regional Council Community Trust. From 1990-1992 she was Vice Chair of the Commonwealth Association for Local Action and Economic Development and she represented Te Rarawa on the Tai Tokerau Māori Trust Board from She is Chair of Te Runanga o Te Rarawa and in 2002 was appointed to the Waitangi Tribunal in 2002.
She writes reports and articles for local papers and newsletters, and has written unpublished verse and songs for topical events.
Biographical sources
- Phone conversation with Gloria Herbert, 4 August 1998.
- http://www.waitangi-tribunal.govt.nz/about/wtmemb/gloriaherbert.asp 19 June 2008.
Non-fiction
- "Climbing the Golden Stairs: The Story of the Pawarenga Community Trust." Tu Tangata 8 (1982): 18-19.
- In this description of Pawarenga in North Hokianga, Gloria writes of the different innovative training and employment programmes instituted by the Pawarenga Community Trust.
- "Behind the News: Hui Taumata Māori." Broadsheet 126 (1985): 6-8.
- Co-authors David Takataraka Loughlin, N. Mako, Gloria Herbert et al. A series of twelve quotations from submissions made by Māori individuals and groups at the Māori Economic Summit held at Parliament in October 1984. Gloria calls for increased government funding for SCOPE and observes that emerging "good cooperative ventures" need adequate funding in light of the increasing numbers of Māori returning back to whanau and hapu to support the "communal concept".
- "Surviving in Paradise." Puna Wairere: Essays by Māori. Wellington, N.Z.: New Zealand Planning Council/Te Kaunihera Whakakaupapa mo Aotearoa, 1990. 47-54.
- Gloria gives a descriptive account of life in Pawarenga, her turangawaewae in Hokianga, and notes the different population shifts over the last forty years. She discusses the marae in the district, employment prospects, and the social events that bind this predominantly Catholic community together.
Other
- Hetaraka, Janet. "Making Sense of Belonging." Northern Advocate 22 Sept. 1990: 25.
- "New Tribunal Members Appointed; Māori Land Court Judges appointed." Te Manutukutuku 56 (2002): 7.