Golan Maaka

Golan Haberfield Maaka (4 April 1904 – 17 May 1978) was a New Zealand medical doctor and one of the country's first full-time Māori general practitioners.[1] He identified with the Ngāti Kahungunu and Ngāi Tahu iwi.[1]

Maaka was born in Takapau, Hawke's Bay Region, New Zealand on 4 April 1904.[1] A bright child he was educated at Heretaunga School in Hastings, Te Aute College and Dannevirke High School.[1][2] He received a scholarship to study medicine at the University of Otago commencing his studies in 1924.[3] As a fifth year student he wrote a dissertation on the public health conditions at Rātana Pā.[1][4] He graduated MB, ChB in 1937 becoming a house surgeon at Napier Hospital where he had been working as a medical officer since the early 1930s.[1][5] In 1938 he joined the Far East Relief Fund, run by the Order of St John and the Red Cross, to work in China.[6] He worked at a Presbyterian Mission Hospital at Yichang which came under Japanese attack.[7] Because of the fighting he had to leave China by an overland route arriving back in New Zealand in 1939.[7]

Although he wanted to serve in WWII he was instead deployed by the Department of Health to Tāneatua to address the high incidence of syphilis amongst Māori.[1] He worked on the same in Northland as well as TB.[1] In 1944 he took up general practice in Whakatāne where he worked for 35 years.[8] Although trained in western medicine he also used Māori traditional healing methods (rongoā).

Maaka died in Whakatāne on 17 May 1978.[1]

A biography Dr. Golan Maaka: Maori doctor by his grandson Bradford Haami was published in 1995.[9][10]

Publications

  • Maaka, G (March 1960). "Health trends in the Maori today". Te Ao Hou.

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Haami, Bradford. "Golan Haberfield Maaka". Dictionary of New Zealand Biography. Ministry for Culture and Heritage. Retrieved 23 April 2017.
  2. ^ "Personal". Daily Telegraph (Napier). 16 December 1926. p. 21. Retrieved 5 October 2025.
  3. ^ "Page 6 Advertisements". Hawke's Bay Tribune. 15 February 1924. p. 6. Retrieved 5 October 2025.
  4. ^ Maaka, Golan (1930). Ratana Pa: a general survey of conditions at Ratana from a public health aspect. Unpublished 5th year medical student research essay.
  5. ^ "Use of wrong drug admitted to commission". Manawatu Times. 22 June 1937. p. 6. Retrieved 5 October 2025.
  6. ^ "Far East relief". Dominion. 26 May 1938. p. 13. Retrieved 5 October 2025.
  7. ^ a b "H.B. doctor in China". Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune. 7 February 1939. p. 6. Retrieved 5 October 2025.
  8. ^ "Medical situation". Bay of Plenty Beacon. 14 April 1944. p. 5. Retrieved 5 October 2025.
  9. ^ Haami, Bradford (1995). Dr. Golan Maaka : Maori doctor. North Shore City: Tandem. ISBN 0908884702.
  10. ^ King, John (11 November 1995). "Dr Golan Maaka - a man of two worlds". Evening Post. p. 14.

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