Commemorating Women’s History Month with Guide Rangi

Guide Rangi with former First Lady of the United States, Eleanor Roosevelt. Photographer: John Dobree-Pascoe.

As we continue to celebrate women during Women’s History Month, we shift our focus to 1920s New Zealand and female guide Rangi…

A century ago in 1921, an influx of foreign tourists descended on the small town of Rotorua, New Zealand and the tourism career of one of New Zealand’s most famous female figures was born. Guide Rangitiaria (Rangi) started guiding in the Whakarewarewa valley in the 1920s and loved the opportunity to share a Māori world view with visitors from around the globe.

She encouraged tourists to ask questions, in the belief that this would help bridge the worlds of the Māori and the non- Māori. Guide Rangi guided many famous names around her geothermal home including a former First Lady of the United States, Eleanor Roosevelt, in 1943.

In addition to her guiding skills, she is remembered for her wit and dry sense of humor. A favorite joke of hers was when she once described one of the thermal vents as ‘the politicians pool’ because it was ‘full of spouting, mudslinging and hot air’.