Rapaki Wahine Whakamaumahara: Memories of the Rapaki branch Maori Women's Welfare League
Dr Libby Plumridge
(Out of print)
July 2008
$19.95
72pp, Paperback
A5, B&W photos
ISBN: 978-1-877257-64-3
For women living in the isolated rural settlement of Rapaki, Banks Peninsula, in the mid-20th century, the Maori Women's Welfare League was a godsend.
League meetings provided an opportunity for women to meet other women – Maori and Pakeha – within their own community and further afield, and develop skills that assisted their whanau and community.
Over the years it became clear that there was a need to capture the memories of the early days of the Rapaki Maori Women's Welfare League before they were lost forever as foundation members passed on.
Dr Libby Plumridge, a member of the Rapaki branch since the 1980s, set about interviewing members. The fascinating and heart-warming stories she has collected here record the experiences of members from the beginnings of the league in the 1950s to the present day.