Maori Guide Maggie Papakura signed and dated postcard 1908

Description

Signed maori guide postcard,Maggie Papakura she has signed in ink across the top left of the printed card and she also dated it 22.4.08[1908]

Margaret Pattison Staples-Browne (née Thom, 20 October 1873 –16 April 1930), more commonly known as Mākereti or Maggie Papakura, was a New Zealand guide, entertainer and ethnographer. Of Pākehā and Māori descent, she was of Te Arawa and Tūhourangi iwi.

Papakura was born in Matatā, Bay of Plenty, New Zealand, in 1873. Her parents were Englishman William Arthur Thom, a storekeeper, and Pia Ngarotū Te Rihi, a high-born Te Arawa woman of Ngāti Wāhiao hapu of Tūhourangi, descended from Te Arawa chiefs Tama-te-kapua, Ngātoroirangi, Hei and Ika.

After secondary school, Papakura moved to live in the thermal springs area of Whakarewarewa in Rotorua and began to learn to be a guide under Guide Sophia Hinerangi. With her wages she was able to support her infant son, William.She was once asked by an overseas visitor if she had a Māori surname, and, glancing around for inspiration. she saw the geyser Papakura nearby and told the visitor her name was Maggie Papakura. From then on, she worked under the name and members of her family also adopted the new surname.

In 1901, Papakura was the guide for the Duke and Duchess of Cornwall and York (later King George V and Queen Mary) on their visit to Whakarewarewa. She was noticed by the press, and as a result, she was featured in magazines, calendars, brochures, books, postcards and newspaper society columns. Two years later she published her own guide book, Maggie’s Guide to the Hot Lakes, which was a great success.

The postcard is unused to the back [Parkerson’ number13 series]Some toning is noted to the cards back.