The Women's Health League pictured at Ohinemutu in 1937. Photo / Supplied
The Women's Health League pictured at Ohinemutu in 1937. Photo / Supplied
Two years' research into the history of the Te Arawa Women's Health League will culminate with a book and exhibition launch on Friday.
"Autauhinera: Sisterhood – Legacies of the Te Arawa Women's Health League" will open at a ceremony in the Rotorua Lakes Council Galleria - 80 years afterthe launch of this grassroots organisation.
The Te Arawa Women's Health League was founded by district nurse Robina Cameron with the support of Te Arawa elders in the Rotorua district in 1937. The league's focus was the health of Maori women and children working through marae-based women's committees.
The need for such an organisation was revealed in the words of current league president Hariata Pikea.
"Our people and babies were dying, the sanitation was poor, our homes had no water or sewerage, our babies - the mortality rate was so high. I can feel their tears today. Hope arrived in the early 1930s, when Kamerana, the little Pakeha nurse, visited us in her Model T Ford and hoihoi (horse)."
Women's Health League pictured at Ohinemutu in 1937. Photo/Supplied
For Dr Laurie Morrison the project has gone back many years.
"In November 1993, I prepared a brief glimpse for The Suffrage Celebration of my one of the kuia who was a founding member of the Women's Health League, established on September 2, 1937 at the Tunohopu Marae, Ohinemutu, Rotorua."
Her passion for the wider story has grown over the decades.
Stories told in ''Autauhinerā: Sisterhood" reflected the lives of women and children in the 1930s and early 1940s through the eyes of founding office bearers, as recorded in the 1937 Women's Health League Minute Books.
Working with researcher Raina Meha, who focused on Rotoiti and Otaramarae stories, Dr Morrison has accumulated revealing stories of the reality of daily life for women at this time – along with the great sense of camaraderie that still holds true today.
They acknowledged Maori trusts and funding bodies that have made this major project possible including the Women's Health League, Ngati Whakaue Endowment Trust, Rotorua Energy Charitable Trust, Ngati Pikiao, Ngati Kearoa, and Te Roro o Te Rangi Trusts.
"We are grateful to the many whanau members, Rotorua Lakes Council and Rotorua Museum Te Whare Taonga o Te Arawa who have helped us to celebrate the unsung heroines of the 1937 Women's Health League," Dr Morrison said.
For further information contact Dr Morrison on 027259665 or at Laurie.e.morrison@gmail.com.
