Aotearoa : he Nupepa ma nga Tangata Maori

E ai ki te tuhinga ētita tuatahi o Aotearoa (1892) ko te niupepa nei i whakaputaina mā te iwi Māori motuhake, nā, korekore anō te iwi Pākehā e whai wāhi mai, ahakoa pēhea, ki ōna whakaritenga: ‘Ko Aotearoa hei taonga tupu mo nga Maori, kaore he Pakeha e whai hia ki roto. Ka whakahaerea motuhaketia hei painga mo te Iwi Maori anake’ (4 Hune 1892: 1).

He mea whakaputa a Aotearoa hei whakariterite i ngā iwi Māori; hei kanohi, hei taringa hoki mō ngā āhuatanga ka pā i tō rātou whenua, i tāwāhi anō hoki. I āwhinatia te ētita e ngā tama o ētahi rangatira Māori tokowhitu, ā, te tikanga ka whāngaia ki te moni o tētahi wāhanga o ētahi whenua ka rāhuitia i ia rohe, i ia rohe hei tautoko i te niupepa. Tētahi atu pūtea whāngai moni mai ko ngā hokonga niupepa tonu, ngā pānui hoko a ngā rangatira o ngā toa, ko ngā āwhina a te kāwanatanga, ngā Poari Rori, me ngā Kaunihera ā-Rohe.

Te āhua nei i whāia a Aotearoa e Huia Tangata Kotahi, te niupepa o Te Kotahitanga. He ropū tōrangapū tēnei o ngā iwi katoa i raro i te Tiriti o Waitangi.

Mō ētahi atu mōhiotanga mō te niupepa tirohia P Parkinson rāua ko P Griffith, Books in Maori (Auckland: Reed, 2004), S32, wh. 801; J Curnow, ‘A Brief History of Maori-Language Newspapers’, i Rere Atu, Taku Manu! he mea ētita nā J Curnow, N Hopa rātou ko J McRae (Auckland: Auckland University Press, 2002), wh. 17–41 (wh. 28).

E hiahia ana te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa ki te mihi ki a Gail Dallimore mōna i tuku kōrero mai i whakamahia i roto i ngā tuhinga roa mō ngā niupepa Māori.

The first editorial of Aotearoa (1892) states that the newspaper is published exclusively for the benefit of Maori people and Pakeha will have no part in its organisation: ‘Ko Aotearoa hei taonga tupu mo nga Maori, kaore he Pakeha e whai hia ki roto. Ka whakahaerea motuhaketia hei painga mo te Iwi Maori anake’ (4 June 1892: 1).

Aotearoa was published to organise Maori tribes; to be their eyes and ears to events happening in their land and overseas. The editor was assisted by the sons of seven chiefs and it was to be funded through setting aside a portion of Maori land in each district to support the newspaper, as well as by sales and advertising by shopkeepers, the government, Road Boards and County Councils.

Aotearoa was probably superseded by Huia Tangata Kotahi, the newspaper of Te Kotahitanga. This was a political grouping of all tribes under the Treaty of Waitangi.

For further information about the newspaper, see P Parkinson and P Griffith, Books in Maori (Auckland: Reed, 2004), S32, pp. 801; J Curnow, ‘A Brief History of Maori-Language Newspapers’, in Rere Atu, Taku Manu! edited by J Curnow, N Hopa and J McRae (Auckland: Auckland University Press, 2002), pp. 17–41 (p. 28).

The National Library would like to thank Gail Dallimore for providing information used in essays about Maori newspapers.