Eastern Maori was one of

New Zealand's New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island country b ...

four original parliamentary

Māori electorates In New Zealand politics, Māori electorates, colloquially known as the Māori seats, are a special category of electorate that give reserved positions to representatives of Māori in the New Zealand Parliament. Every area in New Zealand is ...

established in 1868, along with

Northern Maori Northern Maori was one of New Zealand's four original parliamentary Māori electorates established in 1868, along with Eastern Maori, Western Maori and Southern Maori. In 1996, with the introduction of MMP, the Maori electorates were updated, an ...

Western Maori Western Maori was one of New Zealand's four original parliamentary Māori electorates established in 1868, along with Northern Maori, Eastern Maori and Southern Maori. In 1996, with the introduction of MMP, the Maori electorates were updated, ...

and

Southern Maori Southern Maori was one of New Zealand's four original parliamentary Māori electorates established in 1868, along with Eastern Maori, Western Maori and Eastern Maori. In 1996, with the introduction of MMP, the Maori electorates were updated, an ...

. In

1996 File:1996 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: A Centennial Olympic Park bombing, bomb explodes at Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta, set off by a radical Anti-abortion violence, anti-abortionist; The center fuel tank explodes on TWA Flight 8 ...

, with the introduction of MMP, the Maori electorates were updated, and Eastern Maori was replaced with the Te Tai Rawhiti and

Te Puku O Te Whenua Te Puku O Te Whenua or "the belly of the land" was one of the five new New Zealand parliamentary Māori electorates created in 1996 for MMP. It was replaced in the 1999 election. Population centres The electorate included the following populati ...

electorates.

Population centres

The electorate included the population centres of Kawerau, Opotiki, Rotorua and Whakatane.

Tribal areas

The electorate included the tribal areas of

Ngāti Awa Ngāti Awa is a Māori iwi (tribe) centred in the eastern Bay of Plenty Region of New Zealand. It is made of 22 hapū (subtribes), with 15,258 people claiming affiliation to the iwi in 2006. The Ngāti Awa people are primarily located in towns ...

Te Arawa Te Arawa is a confederation of Māori iwi and hapu (tribes and sub-tribes) of New Zealand who trace their ancestry to the Arawa migration canoe (''waka'').Ngāi Tai Iwi () are the largest social units in New Zealand Māori society. In Māori roughly means "people" or "nation", and is often translated as "tribe", or "a confederation of tribes". The word is both singular and plural in the Māori language, an ...

, Te Whakatōhea and

Ngāti Porou Ngāti Porou is a Māori iwi traditionally located in the East Cape and Gisborne regions of the North Island of New Zealand. Ngāti Porou is affiliated with the 28th Maori Battalion and has the second-largest affiliation of any iwi in New Zealand ...

History

Eastern Maori included

Rotorua Rotorua () is a city in the Bay of Plenty region of New Zealand's North Island. The city lies on the southern shores of Lake Rotorua, from which it takes its name. It is the seat of the Rotorua Lakes District, a territorial authority encompass ...

and the

Bay of Plenty The Bay of Plenty ( mi, Te Moana-a-Toi) is a region of New Zealand, situated around a bight of the same name in the northern coast of the North Island. The bight stretches 260 km from the Coromandel Peninsula in the west to Cape Runawa ...

, and the

Poverty Bay Poverty Bay (Māori: ''Tūranganui-a-Kiwa'') is the largest of several small bays on the east coast of New Zealand's North Island to the north of Hawke Bay. It stretches for from Young Nick's Head in the southwest to Tuaheni Point in the north ...

area down to Gisborne. Originally the electorate extended down the East Coast and included the

Wairarapa The Wairarapa (; ), a geographical region of New Zealand, lies in the south-eastern corner of the North Island, east of metropolitan Wellington and south-west of the Hawke's Bay Region. It is lightly populated, having several rural service ...

, but in 1954 the boundaries of the

electorate were extended to include much of the East Coast of the

North Island The North Island, also officially named Te Ika-a-Māui, is one of the two main islands of New Zealand, separated from the larger but much less populous South Island by the Cook Strait. The island's area is , making it the world's 14th-largest ...

up to Napier and

Wairoa Wairoa is a town and territorial authority district in New Zealand's North Island. The town is the northernmost in the Hawke's Bay region, and is located on the northern shore of Hawke Bay at the mouth of the Wairoa River and to the west of ...

Hawke's Bay Hawke's Bay ( mi, Te Matau-a-Māui) is a local government region on the east coast of New Zealand's North Island. The region's name derives from Hawke Bay, which was named by Captain James Cook in honour of Admiral Edward Hawke. The region is ...

. The first Member of Parliament for Eastern Maori was Tareha Te Moananui, elected in

1868 Events January–March * January 2 – British Expedition to Abyssinia: Robert Napier leads an expedition to free captive British officials and missionaries. * January 3 – The 15-year-old Mutsuhito, Emperor Meiji of Jap ...

; he was the first Māori MP to speak in Parliament, and he retired in 1870. James Carroll represented the electorate from

1887 Events January–March * January 11 – Louis Pasteur's anti-rabies treatment is defended in the Académie Nationale de Médecine, by Dr. Joseph Grancher. * January 20 ** The United States Senate allows the Navy to lease Pearl Har ...

to 1893, but in

1893 Events January–March * January 2 – Webb C. Ball introduces railroad chronometers, which become the general railroad timepiece standards in North America. * Mark Twain started writing Puddn'head Wilson. * January 6 – Th ...

he changed to the Waiapu electorate and was replaced by

Wi Pere Wiremu "Wi" Pere (7 March 1837 – 9 December 1915), was a Māori Member of Parliament in New Zealand. He represented Eastern Māori in the House of Representatives from 1884 to 1887, and again from 1893 to 1905. Pere's strong criticism of th ...

who Carroll had defeated in 1887. In the , the incumbent,

Tiaki Omana Tiaki Omana (18 December 1891 – 24 June 1970), also known by the English name Jack Ormond, was a New Zealand rugby union player and politician. He won the Rātana Movement's fourth Maori electorate of Eastern Maori in 1943 from Āpirana Ngat ...

of the Labour Party, was unsuccessfully challenged by

National National may refer to: Common uses * Nation or country ** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen Places in the United States * National, Maryland, ce ...

's Turi Carroll. In the ,

Puti Tipene Watene Puti Tipene (Steve) Watene (18 August 1910 – 14 June 1967), of Ngāti Maru and Te Arawa, was a New Zealand rugby league footballer and politician. He was the first Māori to captain the New Zealand league side and he is the only person to ...

was elected. He was a Mormon and was the first non-Ratana to win a Maori seat since 1938. With MMP Eastern Maori was replaced by the Te Tai Rawhiti electorate in

. Peter Tapsell, who had represented Eastern Maori since 1981 was defeated when he stood in the new electorate.

Members of Parliament

The Eastern Maori electorate was represented by ten Members of Parliament: Key

Election results

Note that the affiliation of many early candidates is not known.

1993 election

1990 election

1987 election

1984 election

1981 election

1978 election

1975 election

1972 election

1969 election

1967 by-election

1966 election

1963 election

1960 election

1957 election

1954 election

1951 election

1949 election

The number of electors on Maori rolls was often inaccurate hence the impossible turnout figures.

1946 election

1931 election

1928 election

1899 election

1896 election

1879 by-election

Notes

References

* *

External links

''Text of Eastern Māori election poll petition, 1876'' (in Māori)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Eastern Maori Historical Māori electorates 1996 disestablishments in New Zealand 1868 establishments in New Zealand