Georgina Kirby

Dame Georgina Kamiria Kirby DBE QSO JP (born 31 January 1936) is a New Zealander who was made a dame for services to the Māori people on 11 June 1994.[1]

Kirby in 2013

Background

Dame Georgina Kirby was born in 1936 Horohoro, near Rotorua, the eldest of 11 children. She is a member of the Ngāti Kahungunu iwi.[2][3] She attended Horohoro School, Rotorua; Rotorua High School, and Auckland University.[4] She had a number of jobs in the 1950s and 1960s including being a junior assistant teacher at Whakarewarewa School from 1953-54, a toll operator from 1955-56, and a training officer from 1956-63 with the New Zealand Post Office.[2]

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.[2]

Career

Dame Georgina 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.[5][2] She has been a member of the Māori Women's Welfare League since 1976 and was president from 1983-1987.[6][2] 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.[2]

In 1993, Kirby was awarded the New Zealand Suffrage Centennial Medal.[7]

Organisations

This list includes some of the many organisations Dame Georgina Kirby has been connected with:

  • Māori Education Fund, trustee[3]
  • Te Kohanga Reo National Trust, trustee[3]
  • NZ Women's Refuge Foundation, trustee[3]
  • NZ Māori Artists and Writers’ Society Ngā Puna Waihanga, National Secretary 1973-84[2]
  • Te Manuka Film Trust in Wellington, trustee[2]

References
  1. New Zealand Honours List (1994)
  2. "Georgina Kamiria 'Teoti' Smith Kirby". Kōmako. A bibliography of writing by Māori in English. Retrieved 22 June 2020.
  3. "Rotorua born dame fights for the rights of Māori women". NZ Herald. 18 September 2018. ISSN 1170-0777. Retrieved 22 June 2020.
  4. Burke's Peerage excerpt
  5. Māori Art.irg website
  6. Godfery, Morgan (10 August 2018). "The power struggle in the Māori Women's Welfare League". The Spinoff. Retrieved 22 June 2020.
  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.
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