Young Māori Party

Young Māori Party, association of educated Westernized Māori of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, dedicated to bringing about a degree of cultural assimilation of the Māori nation to the dominant Pākehā (white European) culture of New Zealand. The party was organized in the 1890s by a number of graduates of Te Aute College, a Māori college. Its most notable leaders were Āpirana Ngata, Te Rangi Hīroa (Peter Henry Buck), and Māui Pōmare, all three of whom were eventually knighted.

The Māori population had declined as a result of their wars with white settlers in the 1860s, and, although a dramatic upsurge in the rate of population growth began in the late 1890s, assuring the survival of the Māori, they continued to have an aversion to the cultural and material aspects of Pākehā society. The Young Māori sought to break through this barrier, especially in the fields of public health and education. Working through the government administration (especially 1909–12) and as a parliamentary bloc, the Young Māori made gains in these and other areas.