Go to home page - New Zealand History online

Pages tagged with: te reo

Every year since 1975 New Zealand has marked Māori Language Week - Te Wiki o Te Reo Māori. This is a time to celebrate te reo Māori (the Māori language) and to use more Maori phrases in everyday life In 2012 Māori Language Week is from 23–29 July, the theme is 'Arohatia te reo' – cherish the language'.

The story of the decline and revival of the Māori language is one of the major issues in modern New Zealand history.

100 Maori words for everyday usage. We have included individual sound files of spoken versions of all these words – just click on the word and it will be spoken!
365 words and phrases in te reo Maori
Maori women have been the backbone of kohanga reo (language 'nurseries' where pre-schoolers were immersed in the language) since the first opened in 1982. By July 2000 there were a total of 11,519 children attending 611 kohanga reo.
Piripi Walker (right) and Tama Te Huki in the studio of the Wellington Maori language radio station, Te Upoko o Te Ika, on its first day of broadcast in 1987.
The Waitangi Tribunal claim for te reo Maori
Waitangi Tribunal members Chief Judge Edward Durie (left) and Paul Temm QC visit a kohanga reo at Waiwhetu, Lower Hutt, in 1985. Kohanga reo or language 'nurseries' immersed infants in a Maori language environment; the first of these opened in 1982.
Marama Ormsby (left) and Erina Hurihanganui won the 1985 National Maori Speech Contests held in Wellington.
Te reo (the Maori language) came into Parliament with the first Maori MPs, elected in 1868.
A pledge in te reo not to drink alcohol, and a membership badge produced by the Fellowship of St Matthew
Colenso arrived at the Bay of Islands as the Church Mission printer in December 1834. His achievements include printing the New Testamont in Maori and the Maori version of the Treaty of Waitangi.
'So that women may receive the vote', by Meri Mangakahia (1893)
The Maori Language Act came into force, meaning that te reo Māori could now be used in some legal proceedings. The Act also established the Maori Language Commission.
The launch of Māori Television at Auckland, 2004.
Teacher assistant Nan Bella with a new generation of Maori speakers at the bilingual unit in a Lower Hutt school in 1991.
Hear Clerk of the House T.D.H. Hall talk about Maori Members of Parliament using te reo in the House.
Map showing the retention and protection of the Maori language, 1973-1991 
Hoani Waititi teaching te reo, possibly at Queen Victoria School for Maori Girls.