Māori Reference Collection

The Māori reference collection is a special collection of books and other materials about Māori language, history and culture held at Northcote Library, Te Whare Mātauranga o Northcote.

The Māori Reference collection is for use in the library with duplicate copies of most items available for borrowing from the general collections.  Resources include books, microfiche, magazines, newspapers and a resource file – Te Kete Mātauranga.

 

 

In 1992 at a meeting attended by members of the local Māori community, Northcote Library was asked to establish a small special collection to keep standard Māori reference resources together.

Since that initial request, the Māori Reference Collection has grown and now includes an impressive range of material in both the English and Māori languages.

 

Manu Aute-the bird woman kite that watches over the Māori Reference Collection was a specially commissioned artwork made by the Awataha Marae Weavers Group in 1994.

The Manu Aute is a large and intricate kite with a head and body symbolic of that of a human being. In traditional times, Manu Aute were used to send messages or signals over great distances.
 

The message that the Manu Aute at Northcote Library carries is articulated in the ancient Māori proverb-
 

In the context of the Māori Reference Collection, the feathers of the bird are a metaphor for those small but necessary adornments of knowledge which empower the mind and promote the flight of the imagination.
 

For more information contact Northcote Library on (09) 486-8490 or email Kim.

 

Housed in the New Zealand Collection at Takapuna Library this collection brings together material in te reo and material relating to tikanga Māori. It is for anyone who would like to know more about the language, culture, history and contemporary issues of tangata whenua. The collection includes the Maori newspaper  Niupepa (1842-1933 held on microfiche) and some Waitangi Tribunal reports.
 

For more information on the New Zealand Collection contact the New Zealand Collection Librarian on (09) 486-8466 or email  Anne or Takapuna Library on 486-8460.