Dame Georgina Kamiria Kirby remembered as a 'visionary' by Māori Development Minister

Monday, 14 June 2021

Tributes are flowing for Dame Georgina Kamiria Kirby, who died on Friday at Auckland City Hospital.

Kirby, 85, was widely acknowledged for her advocacy and work for women and the Māori community.

Māori Development Minister Willie Jackson has described Kirby, of Ngāti Kahungunu, as “innovative, a visionary and strong-minded”.

“When she believed in a kaupapa she put all her efforts behind it,” he said.

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“She was a mentor for many emerging young Māori women leaders.”

Kirby became a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire for services to Māori in 1994.

She was also recognised in 1993 with the New Zealand Suffrage Centennial Medal.

Kirby was president of the Māori Women’s Welfare League from 1983 to 1987, where she launched smoking and weight reduction campaigns.

She also formed Māori Women’s Development Incorporated, which helped Māori women who could not obtain loan grants.

It now has assets of more than $4 million and has helped hundreds of wāhine into businesses, Jackson said.

In 1984, she launched the Rapuora Māori Women’s Health Survey, and the following year established Whare Rapuora Health and Wellness clinics throughout New Zealand.

In 1993, she was among 16 leaders who began the original Mana Wāhine Inquiry claim.

That inquiry is currently before the Waitangi Tribunal.

“It was an honour to have known Dame Kirby and she will be sorely missed and my thoughts and wishes go out to her whānau,” Jackson said.

Her funeral service was held on Monday at Te Māhurehure Marae in Auckland’s Point Chevalier.