Hohi Kaa was born and raised at Iwitea, Wairoa, the daughter of Tihi Whaanga. Her name was changed from Hohi to Sophie when she was a student at Hukarere Māori Girls’ School in Napier. She studied shorthand and typing and trained as a tailor. She married Tipi Kaa, a farmer and Anglican minister in 1921 and they had twelve children. Hohi obtained a Playcentre certificate in her sixties.
Biographical sources
- Correspondence from Keri Kaa on15 Jan, 1998.
- "Sophie Kaa." Matriarchs: A Generation of New Zealand Women talk to Judith Fyfe. Portraits by Louise Guerin. Auckland, N.Z.: Penguin, 1990. 35-48.
Biography
- "Sophie Kaa." Matriarchs: A Generation of New Zealand Women talk to Judith Fyfe. Auckland, N.Z.: Penguin, 1990. 35-48.
- An autobiographical account of Kaa’s childhood, education at Hukarere, and marriage to Tipi Kaa. Kaa discusses the impact of the 1918 flu epidemic, and speaks of her passion for te reo Māori and the importance of education. This is the text of a taped interview with Judith Fyfe; the original tape, transcripts and other research material is held in the NZOHA collection, manuscript section of the Alexander Turnbull Library.
Poetry
- "E Kore Ahau E Ngaro." Hohi Pine Kaa and Arapera Kaa-Blank. Pacific Moana Quarterly 3.4 (1978): 437.