Donald Stafford

{{Short description|New Zealand historian (1927–2010)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=March 2026}} {{Use New Zealand English|date=March 2026}} {{Infobox person | honorific_prefix = | name = Donald Stafford | honorific_suffix = {{post-nominals|country=NZL|CBE|size=100%}} | image = | image_size = | alt = | caption = | birth_date = {{Birth date|1927|09|12|df=y}} | birth_place = | death_date = {{Death date and age|2010|4|6|1927|09|12|df=y}} | death_place = | resting_place = | resting_place_coordinates =  | burial_place =  | burial_coordinates =  | education = | alma_mater = | occupation = | years_active = | known_for = History of Rotorua<br/>History of the Te Arawa people | notable_works = | spouse = | children = | relatives = | awards = }} '''Donald Stafford''', {{post-nominals|country=NZL|CBE|size=85%}} (12 September 1927 – 6 April 2010) was a New Zealand historian who published several works of history. His interest was primarily the Te Arawa confederation of the local Māori people of Rotorua, and Rotorua itself.

==Biography== Donald Murray Stafford was born in Auckland, New Zealand, on 12 September 1927. His father worked in the clothing industry and moved the family to Rotorua, where he operated a menswear shop.<ref name=RLC>{{cite web |title=Stafford, Donald Murray, 1927–2010 |url=https://pakiaka.rotorualibrary.govt.nz/nodes/view/1717 |website=Rotorua Library |publisher=Rotorua Lakes Council |access-date=20 March 2026}}</ref> He studied anthropology at the University of Auckland.<ref name=Press>{{cite news |title=The Past of the Arawa |url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/CHP19910622.2.110.2 |access-date=21 March 2026 |work=Press |date=22 June 1991}}</ref> As a young man, Stafford worked in his father's shop where he came into contact with elders of the Te Arawa confederation of ''iwi'' (tribes). From them, he became familiar with the history and traditions of the people of Te Arawa, as well as gaining competency in ''Te Reo'', the Māori language.<ref name=NZH>{{cite web |title=Don Stafford |url=https://nzhistory.govt.nz/people/don-stafford |website=New Zealand History |publisher=Ministry for Culture and Heritage |access-date=20 March 2026}}</ref>

In 1967, his book ''Te Arawa: A History of the Arawa People'' was published by Reed Publishing. Some years previously, he had been contacted by Ray Richards, a representative of the publisher, with an expression of interest for a work based on the anecdotes and stories that Stafford had collected from the Te Arawa people he had spoken to. He had also travelled widely in he region, meeting with and gaining the confidence of elders of the Arawa ''iwi''. The book proved to be successful and sales of all editions have exceeded 40,000.<ref name=Press/>{{sfn|Bohan|2005|pp=141–142}} The following year Stafford was appointed the curator of the Rotorua City Museum and instigated its photographic collection.<ref name=NZH/> In the 1980 Queen's Birthday Honours, he was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire for "services to the preservation of Maori traditions and history."<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=48214|date=14 June 1980|page=B41|supp=y}}</ref>

In the 1980s, and writing as the city's official historian, Stafford published ''The Founding Years in Rotorua'' and the subsequent ''The New Century in Rotorua''.<ref name=NZH/> For the former book, he received the J. M. Sherrard award for regional history.<ref>{{cite news |title=Three Share History Award |url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/CHP19881220.2.99 |access-date=21 March 2026 |work=Press |date=20 December 1988}}</ref> He would eventually author over 20 books and monographs on the city and its environs.<ref name=NZH/> In 1993, he was awarded an honorary doctorate by the University of Waikato.<ref>{{cite web |title=Honorary Doctors of the University of Waikato |url=https://www.waikato.ac.nz/about/calendar/staff-and-honours/honorary-doctors/ |publisher=University of Waikato |access-date=20 March 2026}}</ref> In the 1994 New Year Honours, he was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire for "services to Māori and local history."<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=53528 |date=31 December 1993 |page=34|supp=2}}</ref>

Stafford continued to write and publish his books in his later years. A follow-up history of the Awara people was published in the late 1990s and his last book, printed in 2007, was 'Wild Wind From the North', a biography of the Māori warrior and chief, Hongi Hika.<ref name=NZH/>{{sfn|McLean|2007|p=241}} He died in Rotorua on 6 April 2010. He was predeceased by his wife, who had died in 1997.<ref name=RLC/> At the time of his death, leaders of Rotorua were advocating for him to receive a knighthood.<ref>{{cite news |title=City Leaders Pushed for Stafford Knighthood |url=https://www.nzherald.co.nz/rotorua-daily-post/news/city-leaders-pushed-for-stafford-knighthood/TKX5WSPP7LEW6D3UTLYXPCQI2E/ |access-date=21 March 2026 |publisher=Rotorua Daily Post |date=8 April 2010}}</ref>

Stafford is the namesake for the room housing the Rotorua library's heritage collection.<ref>{{cite web |title=Don Stafford Room |url=https://www.rotorualibrary.govt.nz/research/research-resources/don-stafford-room |website=Rotorua Library |publisher=Rotorua Lakes Council |access-date=20 March 2026}}</ref>

==Selected works== *{{cite book|year=1967|title=Te Arawa: A History of the Arawa People|publisher=A.H. & A.W. Reed|location=Rotorua}} *{{cite book|year=1986|title=The founding years in Rotorua: a history of events to 1900|publisher=R. Richards Publisher & Rotorua District Council |location=Auckland & Rotorua |isbn=978-0-908596-25-6}} *{{cite book|year=1988|title=The new century in Rotorua: a history of events from 1900|publisher=Ray Richards Publisher & Rotorua District Council |location=Auckland & Rotorua |isbn=978-0-908596-27-0}} *{{cite book |year=1999|title=Pakiwaitara: Te Arawa Stories of Rotorua|publisher=Penguin Group New Zealand|location=Auckland|isbn=978-0-7900-0714-4 |language=en}}

==Notes== {{reflist}}

==References== *{{cite book|last=Bohan|first=Edmund|year=2005|title=The House of Reed 1907–1982: Great Days in New Zealand Publishing|publisher=Canterbury University Press|location=Christchurch|isbn=1-877257-32-X}} *{{cite book|last=McLean|first=Gavin|year=2007|title=Whare Raupo: The Reed Books Story|publisher=Reed Books|location=Auckland|isbn=978-0-7900-1123-3}}

==External links== *{{cite web |title=The complete interviews: Don Stafford |url=https://pakiaka.rotorualibrary.govt.nz/nodes/view/1236 |website=Rotorua Library - Te Aka Mauri |access-date=21 March 2026}} Interviews conducted by Don Stafford of notable Rotorua people

{{DEFAULTSORT:Stafford, Donald}} Category:1927 births Category:2010 deaths Category:People from Auckland Category:People from Rotorua Category:20th-century New Zealand historians Category:20th-century New Zealand male writers Category:New Zealand Commanders of the Order of the British Empire Category:New Zealand curators Category:University of Waikato alumni