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No Māori Allowed: New Zealand's Forgotten History of Racial Segregation
There was a time when Māori were: barred from public toilets, segregated at the cinema & swimming baths, refused alcohol, haircuts & taxi rides, forced to stand for white bus passengers, not allowed to attend school with other students. It happened in the South Auckland town of Pukekohe. From 1925 to the early 1960s, hundreds of Māori infants and children died there in the racially segregated slums where they were forced to live in shacks and manure sheds on the edge of town, away from European residents. Using records from the National Archives and firsthand interviews, No Maori Allowed looks at what happened at Pukekohe and the extent of racial intolerance across the country at this time. In Hamilton, stores refused to let them try on pants. On K Road in Auckland, shops signs read ‘No Credit for Maori’. Councils jacked up prices for state houses to keep them out of ‘white’ neighbourhoods. Hospitals had segregated maternity wards and gave them less expensive cutlery. Banks and shops had official policies of not hiring ‘coloureds’.
- GenresNonfictionHistory
225 pages, Paperback
Published January 1, 2020
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
October 9, 2020
Highlighting the racism towards Māori, Indians and Chinese in New Zealand, it is a very confronting and uncomfortable history, but i’m so glad I read it.
Ka kahi te toi, ka whai te maramatanga.
If knowledge is gathered, enlightenment follows.
“Instead of burying the past, we should confront these traumatic events and injustices. In doing so, we can open a dialogue on national reconciliation and healing. To understand where we are going as a people, we must know where we have been. History is a powerful tool because it speaks to the present and offers insights and perspective into events that are happening now.”
“To build a better future for Māori and to break down stereotypes associated with privilege, it is essential to acknowledge past injustices, and the disadvantages they have created.”
“True healing can only take place when what happened is out in the open, and it is no longer a taboo subject.”
This book is powerful, eye opening, well researched and Don Brash and his Hobson Pledge idiots need to read it.
Ka kahi te toi, ka whai te maramatanga.
If knowledge is gathered, enlightenment follows.
“Instead of burying the past, we should confront these traumatic events and injustices. In doing so, we can open a dialogue on national reconciliation and healing. To understand where we are going as a people, we must know where we have been. History is a powerful tool because it speaks to the present and offers insights and perspective into events that are happening now.”
“To build a better future for Māori and to break down stereotypes associated with privilege, it is essential to acknowledge past injustices, and the disadvantages they have created.”
“True healing can only take place when what happened is out in the open, and it is no longer a taboo subject.”
This book is powerful, eye opening, well researched and Don Brash and his Hobson Pledge idiots need to read it.
March 18, 2021
A matter of fact report on the atrocities and inherent racial segregation of New Zealand. It was never talked about, and its an important read to acknowledge the systemic oppression that our people endured during that time. It's uncomplicated to read, and quite confronting. I recommend this book.
October 12, 2020
Very good educational read into a time in the not so distant past.
May 8, 2023
Discrimination against Māori was not just Pukekohe’s problem, it was a national issue, despite strong government protestations to the contrary.
Pukekohe is a small town in South Auckland which is deemed the most racist community in the country. An epidemic not so long ago that has been swept under the rug controlled by bigoted politicians and ignorant townsfolk.
In the early 1930’s Maori infants and children were dying of measles, tuberculosis, pneumonia, malnutrition and diarrhoea disease due to slum living. This was completely preventable but the problem was these children were born Māori so they were ignored. If they had been European infants and children who had died in any New Zealand town, politicians would have declared a health emergency and full resources of the government would be brought to bear.
Women would pick fruit and men would do manual labour. Some businesses were owned by Chinese and Indian immigrants who would purposely hire young Maori women to exploit their human rights. Maori people were barred from using public toilets, drinking fountains, phone booths, refused haircuts, and could only bathe in public swimming pools on a Friday.
Families living in appalling conditions. Crammed in cheap tents, dingy huts, cow sheds, tin shacks and makeshift corrugated iron sheds that resembled the Dharavi Slams in Mumbai. A hefty majority lived without water supply or drainage, no flooring or toilet facilities described as earth floors with primitive sanitary, washing and cooking facilities. They were living and breathing in their own filth. These times were described as race suicide.
What is remarkable about this tragic chapter in kiwi history is that today, very few citizens (Maori included) realise the extent to which the treatment of Māori in Pukekohe. Many were segregated and abolished from their ancestral lands.
Reading through this horror account of New Zealand’s 20th century past times picture many racist folk who used many offensive slurs. Cruel names cursed like “Bloody Māori, Black Nigger, Māori Head, Dirty Maori, or Maori Bugs and Darkies” (to name a few). Landmarks and places were named Nigger Stream, Nigger Hill and Niggerheads which were only changed in late 2016.
One of the most influential early books on Māori was written by John Ward who was the secretary to the New Zealand company which stood for systematic colonisation of the Southern Hemisphere. It was founded on the British model of society, essentially a handbook for the foreign investors. He branded Māori stereotypes as being physically powerful but having the intellect of children.
At primary public schools in Pukekohe children were strapped with a belt for using non Māori toilets, they were even caned for speaking Māori.
It wasn’t just Māori segregation, Indians and Chinese were deemed unfavourable races due to their hygiene and more prominently their skin colour. New Zealand was threatened by an Asian invasion that would produce no offspring unable to bear the burden of civilisation.
Another interesting statistic to note is just over 50% of New Zealand’s prison population is Maori, yet they comprise just under 15 percent of the total population the country. This is a telling statistic.
Accepting such myths is known as ‘internalised racism’ which can have a lasting effects for the future generations Self-devaluation, loss of confidence, helplessness, even rejecting ancestral culture, denying their identity and suicide. The impact is all too common: dropping out of school and abandoning dreams, not because they do not want to attaint their goals, but because they have been talked into believing they are not capable and are destined for failure.
Every human being is part of a single species. The myth of race is as accepted as scientific fact as the earth is round and revolves around the sun.
Today, the question of Maori Privilege. This issue which upsets many non Maori kiwis. This is the argument - Maori gain special privileges to compensate for past injustices. It is unfair and against the principles of our democracy where ever citizen should be treated equally. In short, is is reverse racism. Treating racism with racism. Tax exemptions, treaty rights, fishing rights, special seats in parliament, etc.
This was an eye opening and compelling read. Credit to an American academic who made the point to write this book which needed to be written.
Pukekohe is a small town in South Auckland which is deemed the most racist community in the country. An epidemic not so long ago that has been swept under the rug controlled by bigoted politicians and ignorant townsfolk.
In the early 1930’s Maori infants and children were dying of measles, tuberculosis, pneumonia, malnutrition and diarrhoea disease due to slum living. This was completely preventable but the problem was these children were born Māori so they were ignored. If they had been European infants and children who had died in any New Zealand town, politicians would have declared a health emergency and full resources of the government would be brought to bear.
Women would pick fruit and men would do manual labour. Some businesses were owned by Chinese and Indian immigrants who would purposely hire young Maori women to exploit their human rights. Maori people were barred from using public toilets, drinking fountains, phone booths, refused haircuts, and could only bathe in public swimming pools on a Friday.
Families living in appalling conditions. Crammed in cheap tents, dingy huts, cow sheds, tin shacks and makeshift corrugated iron sheds that resembled the Dharavi Slams in Mumbai. A hefty majority lived without water supply or drainage, no flooring or toilet facilities described as earth floors with primitive sanitary, washing and cooking facilities. They were living and breathing in their own filth. These times were described as race suicide.
What is remarkable about this tragic chapter in kiwi history is that today, very few citizens (Maori included) realise the extent to which the treatment of Māori in Pukekohe. Many were segregated and abolished from their ancestral lands.
Reading through this horror account of New Zealand’s 20th century past times picture many racist folk who used many offensive slurs. Cruel names cursed like “Bloody Māori, Black Nigger, Māori Head, Dirty Maori, or Maori Bugs and Darkies” (to name a few). Landmarks and places were named Nigger Stream, Nigger Hill and Niggerheads which were only changed in late 2016.
One of the most influential early books on Māori was written by John Ward who was the secretary to the New Zealand company which stood for systematic colonisation of the Southern Hemisphere. It was founded on the British model of society, essentially a handbook for the foreign investors. He branded Māori stereotypes as being physically powerful but having the intellect of children.
At primary public schools in Pukekohe children were strapped with a belt for using non Māori toilets, they were even caned for speaking Māori.
It wasn’t just Māori segregation, Indians and Chinese were deemed unfavourable races due to their hygiene and more prominently their skin colour. New Zealand was threatened by an Asian invasion that would produce no offspring unable to bear the burden of civilisation.
Another interesting statistic to note is just over 50% of New Zealand’s prison population is Maori, yet they comprise just under 15 percent of the total population the country. This is a telling statistic.
Accepting such myths is known as ‘internalised racism’ which can have a lasting effects for the future generations Self-devaluation, loss of confidence, helplessness, even rejecting ancestral culture, denying their identity and suicide. The impact is all too common: dropping out of school and abandoning dreams, not because they do not want to attaint their goals, but because they have been talked into believing they are not capable and are destined for failure.
Every human being is part of a single species. The myth of race is as accepted as scientific fact as the earth is round and revolves around the sun.
Today, the question of Maori Privilege. This issue which upsets many non Maori kiwis. This is the argument - Maori gain special privileges to compensate for past injustices. It is unfair and against the principles of our democracy where ever citizen should be treated equally. In short, is is reverse racism. Treating racism with racism. Tax exemptions, treaty rights, fishing rights, special seats in parliament, etc.
This was an eye opening and compelling read. Credit to an American academic who made the point to write this book which needed to be written.
September 23, 2022
A deeply disturbing and confronting history of New Zealand’s forgotten history of racial segregation focusing on the south Auckland town of Pukekohe.
For a forty year period from the 1920s to the 1960s, Maori in Pukekohe suffered from all the extremes of apartheid. Segregated in all forms: schools, housing and all manner of public facilities. Just for being Maori.
This is a book that needs to be read because a lot of New Zealanders are either unaware of it’s history or simply want it swept under the carpet and conveniently forgotten about.
Sadly, racism exists still today within the town. The Pukekohe North area is still referred to as the “Dark Side” and “The Reservation.”
A couple of local Maori were conversing in Te Reo Maori whilst standing in a shopping queue and were told by a non-Maori lady, “...that we don’t speak that language around here.”
In 2021, a peaceful demonstration (hikoi) marched through the town on a wet Winter’s afternoon to bring attention to the painful past. It was noticeable that a large number of non-Maori took part in this rally, standing side by side with Maori. Significantly, none of the shopkeepers would advertise the protest in their shop windows and the local paper failed to report it. There is still a long way to go.
A mural has now been painted by students from the local high school to acknowledge the town’s history. As the author rightly points out: how can we heal if we can not discuss the past?
For a forty year period from the 1920s to the 1960s, Maori in Pukekohe suffered from all the extremes of apartheid. Segregated in all forms: schools, housing and all manner of public facilities. Just for being Maori.
This is a book that needs to be read because a lot of New Zealanders are either unaware of it’s history or simply want it swept under the carpet and conveniently forgotten about.
Sadly, racism exists still today within the town. The Pukekohe North area is still referred to as the “Dark Side” and “The Reservation.”
A couple of local Maori were conversing in Te Reo Maori whilst standing in a shopping queue and were told by a non-Maori lady, “...that we don’t speak that language around here.”
In 2021, a peaceful demonstration (hikoi) marched through the town on a wet Winter’s afternoon to bring attention to the painful past. It was noticeable that a large number of non-Maori took part in this rally, standing side by side with Maori. Significantly, none of the shopkeepers would advertise the protest in their shop windows and the local paper failed to report it. There is still a long way to go.
A mural has now been painted by students from the local high school to acknowledge the town’s history. As the author rightly points out: how can we heal if we can not discuss the past?
July 16, 2024
I grew up in Pukekohe from the 1970s and never knew about this. Thank you for enlightening me. It's given a real pause for thought about people and the community I grew up around.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews