Georgina Kirby

Dame Georgina Kamiria Kirby DBE QSO JP (born 31 January 1936) is a New Zealand Māori leader and women's advocate.

Kirby in 2013

Background

Kirby was born in 1936 at Horohoro, near Rotorua, the eldest of 11 children. She is a member of the Ngāti Kahungunu iwi.[1][2] She attended Horohoro School, Rotorua High School, and the University of Auckland.[3] She had a number of jobs in the 1950s and 1960s including being a junior assistant teacher at Whakarewarewa School from 1953 to 1954, a toll operator from 1955 to 1956, and a training officer from 1956 to 1963 with the New Zealand Post Office.[1]

In 1977 she went abroad to study arts administration at the National Arts School in Papua New Guinea and the Aboriginal Arts Board in Sydney, Australia.[1]

Career

Kirby has been connected with many organisations and events through out her career. She is a strong advocate for Māori economic and arts development. She helped establish the Te Taumata Art Gallery in Auckland.[4][1] She has been a member of the Māori Women's Welfare League since 1976 and was president from 1983 to 1987.[5][1] She formed Māori Women's Development Incorporated to help Māori women who could not obtain loan grants. Kirby writes the curriculum herself, and gives it out to women around the country in her numerous roadshows. She has been referred to as a "social entrepreneur". In 1993 along with Marilyn Waring and Jocelyn Fish, Kirby introduced the concept of gender representation in Parliament.[1]

Organisations

The following list includes some of the many organisations that Kirby has been connected with:

  • Māori Education Fund, trustee[2]
  • Te Kohanga Reo National Trust, trustee[2]
  • NZ Women's Refuge Foundation, trustee[2]
  • NZ Māori Artists and Writers’ Society Ngā Puna Waihanga, National Secretary 1973-84[1]
  • Te Manuka Film Trust in Wellington, trustee[1]

Honours and awards

In the 1989 New Year Honours, Kirby was appointed a Companion of the Queen's Service Order for community service.[6] In 1993, she was awarded the New Zealand Suffrage Centennial Medal.[7] In the 1994 Queen's Birthday Honours, she was appointed a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire, for services to the Māori people.[8]

References
  1. "Georgina Kamiria 'Teoti' Smith Kirby". Kōmako. A bibliography of writing by Māori in English. Retrieved 22 June 2020.
  2. "Rotorua born dame fights for the rights of Māori women". NZ Herald. 18 September 2018. ISSN 1170-0777. Retrieved 22 June 2020.
  3. Burke's Peerage excerpt
  4. Māori Art.irg website
  5. Godfery, Morgan (10 August 2018). "The power struggle in the Māori Women's Welfare League". The Spinoff. Retrieved 22 June 2020.
  6. "No. 51580". The London Gazette (3rd supplement). 31 December 1988. p. 34.
  7. "The New Zealand Suffrage Centennial Medal 1993 – register of recipients". Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet. 26 July 2018. Retrieved 18 September 2018.
  8. "No. 53697". The London Gazette (2nd supplement). 11 June 1994. p. 33.
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