1875 Maori Newspaper - Te Wananga - John White's copy - Repudiation movement and anti-Crown Land rights

Te Wānanga. Nama 12. Pakowhai, Mane 26 Hurae 1875. Pukapuka 2

Pakowhai: Te Wānanga, 26 July 1875.

Folio newspaper, 6 leaves (numbered 109-120), printed in Māori and English

Printed in "Pakowhai" - Hawkes bay - New Zealand

Contemporary ownership inscription: “John White, Grafton Road, Auckland.”

Fair condition but complete. Toning and foxing (more marked to first page), small tear to left upper middle edge with 2x2cm loss approx. Old folds.

This is an important early issue of the Māori-language newspaper Te Wānanga, published at Pakowhai, Hawke’s Bay, and edited at this time by the government ethnographer and interpreter John White (1826–1891) — whose name appears as owner on this copy. White had assumed editorial responsibilities earlier in 1875, amid the shifting political influence of the Repudiation Movement, which sought to challenge Crown land acquisitions and reassert Māori control over land and law.

Te Wānanga was one of the most influential Māori-language publications of the 19th century. It allowed a platform for Maori voices especially against the Land-grabbing colonial forces of the day. 

This copy’s contemporary provenance is especially notable: John White, then residing at Grafton Road in Auckland, was deeply involved in Māori affairs through his long government service and as author of The Ancient History of the Māori (1887–91). Though this copy bears no annotations, it likely formed part of White’s working library — very few personal exemplars of Te Wānanga survive in private hands, and none with such direct association to a figure so central to colonial-Māori engagement.

Extremely scarce. No other copies of this issue traced in the trade; institutional holdings are fragmentary, with most early issues extant only in select New Zealand repositories.