Moana Sinclair

Rangitāne, Ngāti Raukawa, Ngāti Toa, Ngāi Tahu, Ngāti Maniapoto



Moana Sinclair has worked as a journalist for Mana News and taught at Te Kura Kaupapa Māori o Maungawhau. In 1991 she completed a law degree and currently works as a solicitor at the Youth Law Project and as editor of the Youth Law Review. Her published work includes contributions to Te Pua; What is Going On with Māori Men? a collection of stories and articles written by Māori women, and to the International Workers’ Group for Indigenous Affairs (IWGIA). She wrote "The Five O’clock Tune" as a tribute to her mother Mihikiturangi Durie (eldest sister of Eddie, Mason and Ra Durie). She writes: "My mother was brought up by the old kuia Mihikiturangi Matawha from Kakariki. Mum was not educated in the Pakeha way. My mother was incredibly strong, loving and totally honest. The standards she set for us are always hard to achieve." Sinclair states "I write because it’s a form of healing/therapy, a way of ordering my thoughts, hopes and aspirations on paper." She is currently working on a Māori language play in Māori.

Biographical sources

  • Huia Short Stories 1995. Wellington, N.Z.: Huia, 1995. 135.

    Fiction

  • "The Five O’Clock Tune." Huia Short Stories 1995. Wellington, N.Z.: Huia, 1995. 63-68.
  • The narrator tells of her evening routine of preparing the dinner after school and then travelling with her mother to clean offices until ten. Behind this narrative the writer focuses on the struggles of solo parenthood, and issues of underlying racial and professional superiority. A finalist in the Huia Publishers Māori Writers short story competitions of 1995.
  • "A Good Wine." Huia Short Stories 1997. Wellington, N.Z.: Huia Publishers, 1997. 81-89.
  • Non-fiction

  • "What Is Going On With Men?" Te Pua. 1.1 (Sept. 1992): 24-27.
  • Sinclair recounts a situation where she encountered sexist treatment when questioning gender roles in the Māori Department and in other educational groups.