Maori Origins and Migrations

Since Europeans first set foot in New Zealand they have speculated about where the Māori people came from, how they made their way to New Zealand and how they lived when they arrived here. Theories have abounded: some of them have hardened into accepted truth. The result has been an accumulation of Pakeha myths about Māori origins. The process of this mythmaking is the subject of Sorrenson’s book: ‘It is not an attempt to find an original or even a Pacific homeland for the Māori. I leave that task to the many others who are happily engaged on it.’ But as a study of the development of ideas, this book is both fascinating and salutary.

Author Biography

M. P. K. Sorrenson (Pukenga, Wairaka and Toroa of Mataatua) began as a junior lecturer in the University of Auckland history department in 1958 and completed a DPhil at Oxford and further research in East Africa, before returning to Auckland in 1964. He taught at the University for the next 31 years. His other publications include Ko te Whenua te Utu: Land is the Price: Essays on Māori History, Land and Politics (AUP 2014) and Nā Tō Hoa Aroha: From Your Dear Friend: The Correspondence Between Sir Apirana Ngata and Sir Peter Buck, three volumes (1986–1988). Sorrenson was president of CARE in the 1970s, sat on the council of the NZ Historic Places Trust for a decade and was a leading member of the Waitangi Tribunal for 25 years.