Name

Isabelle Davis nee McGregor

Hapu Iwi

Ngati Porou, Ngati Maru

Date of Birth

21 January 1929

Date of Interview

2003

Interviewer

Jim Nicholls

Where born

Paritu Opoutere

Whanau

Places lived

Schools attended

Work history

Spouses name

Community service

Interest

7 brothers and 6 sisters

Paritu, Opotiki, Waihi, Waiuku

Opoutere Primary, Mataora Primary, Opotiki College

Teacher

Mackie Davis

Hauraki Maori District Council, Waihi Community marae chairperson, Kaumatua Kaunihera

Education of our children, the marae

Abstract

Whaea Isabel talks of being born in Paritu, (Opoutere) on the wooden floor of a tent.  She talks of the family (the third of 13 children) and how they moved around the country because her father was a forestry worker and a farmer.  She talks of her parents being fluent Maori speakers but she was not taught Maori as a child.  She talks of her life as a child learning from her father: bush craft and food gathering, growing their own gardens and the different ways of cooking seafood and mutton birds.  She refers to Pauanui and how they lost their land there and the bulldozing of their gravesites for a subdivision.  She refers to her teachers wanting her to go teaching and of her father’s initial disapproval.  At Matata her first teaching position she met her husband to be Mackie Davis.  They moved between Waihi and Opotiki to stay in touch with both sets of parents.

Comments

A comprehensive story about her life.  An articulate speaker with clarity of thinking.  An easy and pleasant tape to listen to.

There is no transcript for this chapter.

There is no transcript for this chapter.

There is no transcript for this chapter.

There is no transcript for this chapter.

There is no transcript for this chapter.

There is no transcript for this chapter.

There is no transcript for this chapter.

There is no transcript for this chapter.

There is no transcript for this chapter.

There is no transcript for this chapter.

There is no transcript for this chapter.

There is no transcript for this chapter.

There is no transcript for this chapter.

There is no transcript for this chapter.

There is no transcript for this chapter.

There is no transcript for this chapter.

There is no transcript for this chapter.

There is no transcript for this chapter.

There is no transcript for this chapter.

There is no transcript for this chapter.

There is no transcript for this chapter.

There is no transcript for this chapter.

There is no transcript for this chapter.

There is no transcript for this chapter.