Tui MacDonald

Ngāti Kuia, Rangitāne, Ngāti Kōata

Tui MacDonald was born in Blenheim and was educated at Marlborough Girls’ College. She attended the University of Canterbury and graduated with a B.A. in History. She has also graduated with a Diploma in Librarianship and Information Science from Victoria University of Wellington. In 2004 she completed a LLB from Victoria University. Tui has written a number of essays in the Book of New Zealand Women. In 1993 she worked on a research project for the NZ Library and Information Association looking at how well libraries meet the needs of Māori clients. She writes non-fiction articles.

Biographical sources

  • Correspondence with MacDonald on 22 Jan 1993, 3 and 4 August 1998, and 18 March 2004.

    Non-fiction

  • "Ko Kui Ma Te Kaupapa: Using the Turnbull Library to Research the Lives of Māori Women." The Turnbull Library Record 23.1 (May 1990): 38-41.
  • MacDonald writes of the process of researching information on the Māori women represented in The Book of New Zealand Women/Ko Kui Ma Te Kaupapa, and notes the general ‘under-documentation’ of Māori women.
  • "Airini Tonore, Airini Donnelly." Biography of New Zealand Women: Ko Kui ma te Kaupapa. Ed. Charlotte MacDonald, Meremere Penfold and Bridget Williams. Wellington, N.Z.: Bridget Williams, 1991. 178-180.
  • In this account of the life of Airini Tonore, MacDonald discusses her impact in fighting for the retention of Māori land in the Native Land Courts.
  • "Huria Matenga." .” Biography of New Zealand Women: Ko Kui ma te Kaupapa. Ed. Charlotte MacDonald, Meremere Penfold and Bridget Williams. Wellington, N.Z.: Bridget Williams, 1991. 428-430.
  • MacDonald writes of Huria Matenga’s rise to national fame for her part in the heroic rescue of the crew of the Delaware, a boat that foundered on rocks in Whakapuata Bay on 3 September 1863.
  • "Katerina Nehua." Biography of New Zealand Women: Ko Kui ma te Kaupapa. Ed. Charlotte MacDonald, Meremere Penfold and Bridget Williams. Wellington, N.Z.: Bridget Williams, 1991. 465-467.
  • A story of the life and career of endurance swimmer Katerina Nehua who was successful in swimming competitions during the Depression years.
  • "Heni Pore, Jane Foley." Biography of New Zealand Women: Ko Kui ma te Kaupapa. Ed. Charlotte MacDonald, Meremere Penfold and Bridget Williams. Wellington, N.Z.: Bridget Williams, 1991. 531-533.
  • A biography of Heni Pore who became actively involved in fighting for the Kingite movement in the 1860s and embroidered a flag for the movement which was captured by the Forest Rangers in 1863. In this narrative of Heni’s life, her own account of giving water to the opposing wounded troops at the Battle of Gate Pa in 1864 is recorded.
  • "Hine Poupou." Biography of New Zealand Women: Ko Kui ma te Kaupapa. Ed. Charlotte MacDonald, Meremere Penfold and Bridget Williams. Wellington, N.Z.: Bridget Williams, 1991. 540-541.
  • MacDonald drew upon Ngāti Kuia oral and written traditions in her account of Hine Poupou, who is chiefly remembered for her marathon swim from Kapiti Island to D’Urville Island after being deserted by her husband Manini-Pounamu and his brother Te Hiki-Paora.
  • "Iriaka Ratana." .” Biography of New Zealand Women: Ko Kui ma te Kaupapa. Ed. Charlotte MacDonald, Meremere Penfold and Bridget Williams. Wellington, N.Z.: Bridget Williams, 1991. 548-549.
  • A history of the life of Iriaka Ratana, including her early involvement with the Ratana movement, her marriage to Tahupotiki’s son Matiu, and her eventual entry into politics as the first Māori woman member of parliament after the death of Matiu in 1949.
  • "Takiora, Lucy Lord." Biography of New Zealand Women: Ko Kui ma te Kaupapa. Ed. Charlotte MacDonald, Meremere Penfold and Bridget Williams. Wellington, N.Z.: Bridget Williams, 1991. 650-652.
  • Takiora worked as a guide for Major von Tempsky and Lieutenant-Colonel McDonnell during the Taranaki wars of the 1860s. This account of Takiora’s life touches on her mother’s involvement in Hone Heke’s campaign and reveals how Takiora became involved in guiding government troops following the death of her husband Te Mahuki.
  • "Te Puea Herangi." Tui MacDonald with Ngeungeu Zister. Biography of New Zealand Women: Ko Kui ma te Kaupapa. Ed. Charlotte MacDonald, Meremere Penfold and Bridget Williams. Wellington, N.Z.: Bridget Williams, 1991. 664-669.
  • In this detailed essay on Te Puea Herangi MacDonald discusses her life as leader of a small dairy farming community in Mangatawhiri, her support of Maui Pomare’s bid for parliamentary election in 1911, her nursing of victims of the smallpox and influenza epidemics of 1913 and 1918, her stand against conscription during the First World War, and Te Puea’s tireless efforts to restore confiscated lands in the Waikato and to build a marae at Ngaruawahia. Ngeungeu Zister gives a number of eyewitness accounts of Te Puea’s charismatic personality, marriages, and indomitable will to build Turangawaewae.
  • Te Ara Tika: Māori and Libraries: A Research Report. Wellington, N.Z.: New Zealand Library & Information Association/Te Rau Herenga o Aotearoa, 1993.
  • A report of a bicultural research project ‘to promote the development of biculturalism in library services, and in the library and information profession.’ In this report MacDonald examines the contribution to bicultural development of different library services, notes publications on Māori and libraries, and assesses libraries, their Treaty requirements and their response to Māori users. MacDonald provides results of a library staff survey questionnaire and she gives a review of published material on the relationship between Māori and New Zealand libraries.
  • ‘My Hand Will Write What My Heart Dictates’: The Unsettled Lives Of Women In Nineteenth Century New Zealand As Revealed To Sisters, Family And Friends. Ed. Frances Porter and Charlotte Macdonald with Tui Macdonald. Auckland, N.Z.: Auckland UP, Bridget Williams, 1996.
  • A collection of excerpts from letters, diaries and journals of Māori and Pakeha women living in New Zealand in the 19th century. The material is primarily drawn from the Alexander Turnbull Library.

    Reviews

    "My Hand Will Write What My Heart Dictates”: The Unsettled Lives Of Women In Nineteenth Century New Zealand As Revealed To Sisters, Family And Friends.
  • Pickles, Katie. History Now 3.1 (May 1997): 45-47.
  • Te Ara Tika
  • Campbell, Coralie. New Zealand Libraries 47.9 (Mar. 1994): 183.
  • “My Hand Will Write What My Heart Dictates”: The Unsettled Lives Of Women In Nineteenth Century New Zealand As Revealed To Sisters, Family And Friends.
  • Green, David. "Stoic Endurances." New Zealand Books 7.1 (Mar. 1997): 17-18.
  • Urwin, Tiffany. Women’s Studies Journal 12.2 (Spr. 1996): 141-144.