Pōmare, Sir Māui (1876?-1930), was a physician and leader of New Zealand‘s Indigenous (native) Māori people. Pōmare was born at Pahau pā, near New Plymouth on the North Island. According to some sources, he was born on Aug. 24, 1875, but his death certificate says he was born on Jan. 13, 1876. He studied in the United States, earning an M.D. degree from American Medical Missionary College in Chicago in 1899. In 1900, Pōmare became the first native New Zealand health officer. In 1912, he became an independent member for the Western Māori electorate in the New Zealand Parliament. He was knighted in 1922. He was minister of health, but declined to become a candidate for prime minister in 1925. He worked with the New Zealand historian James Cowan on a volume of The Legends of the Maori (1930-1934). Sir Māui died on June 27, 1930, in Los Angeles.
