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More than a century ago, a woman of Māori descent left behind her profession as a tour guide and performer in New Zealand and traveled to England, where she would shortly make history by registering at the University of Oxford.

Tragically, Papakura – believed to be the initial woman from an Indigenous community to pursue studies at the university – died just a few weeks before finishing her dissertation, and in the decades since, her family has fought to have her academic qualification recognised.

Last week, that acknowledgment was granted. In front of over 100 family and tribal members who travelled to Oxford to witness the ceremony, Papakura was posthumously granted an Master of Philosophy in anthropology for her work recording the way of life, language and traditions of her Te Arawa people.

Papakura’s relative, June Northcroft Grant, was emotional as she accepted the diploma from the university’s head.

“It was very surreal. I needed to compose myself because I became tearful and didn’t want ugly crying on TV,” she remarked.

Watching a live broadcast from the nearby Natural History Museum, many of her extended family began a thunderous haka as a mark of respect.

Brought into the world in New Zealand’s Bay of Plenty in 1873, Papakura grew up during a period of significant change for the Māori people, including the swift decline of land, language and Indigenous knowledge as the grip of colonial rule intensified.

She was brought up by her elders from two Arawa subtribes, around the hot springs village of Whakarewarewa. The village is near the city of the geothermal hub, known for its boiling mud, simmering streams, and water spouts that erupt from the ground.

It was while working as a guide near the area that she gained notice during a visit by royalty in 1901, and later became a figure, featured on a variety of postcards and in photoshoots.

A decade later, Papakura travelled to the UK with a cultural troupe that went bankrupt, with many of the participants remaining to work or wed residents.

She went back to Rotorua only briefly before wedding a affluent British man, Richard Staples-Browne. She moved to the county where she enrolled at the university and became friends with the anthropologist TK Penniman.

In elegant handwriting, she spent years writing her detailed knowledge of genealogy, histories, language and customs on numerous of sheets of paper, preserving the ancient traditions of the Arawa people.

Notably for the time, it was a detailed study about native communities, by an native woman.

But Papakura died in 1930, at the age of 56, just a few weeks before her dissertation was due.

Penniman would later release the thesis as a volume, The Old Time Māori, which her descendants state is as relevant now as always. Grant mentioned it has been utilized by the Māori trying to reclaim their tongue and ancestral knowledge, even demonstrating useful in legal land claims.

“We discovered a great deal of details about our lands in the community. All the caverns and the hot springs,” she explained. For nearly a century, the reality she was not granted her degree proved something of a painful issue.

“Ninety-five years, why did it take so long?” she asked. “We have been quietly and steadily telling her story.”

At a gathering with the relatives among the displays at the university's anthropology museum on Saturday, the university head, Professor Tracey, stated it was an privilege to finally acknowledge Papakura’s influence as a scholar.

“I cannot imagine a individual – worldwide, historically – more deserving of that recognition,” she commented. “At a time when very few women attended the university, very few women did degrees.”

The group of the Arawa people spent nearly a week in the United Kingdom, attending a range of events, performances and other activities.

Anthony Wihapi, who was among the group, described a sense of “amazement”. “It’s existed for nine centuries and I’m told this is among the initial times they’ve granted a posthumous degree. It is remarkable for our [family] to be proud of.”

Part of the delegation’s tour featured gifting a six-foot carved figure, or pou, elaborately carved into a piece of native timber.

She and her concert party carried the pou to England in 1911, during their first visit.

“They employed the carving as a backdrop behind and they would act in front of it,” noted Rika, a carver who is also a relation of Papakura.

It remained in the United Kingdom, changing various possessors and purposes – including as a craft table – before entering a state of deterioration, he said. Last week, after meticulous restoration by Rika, Te Arawa presented the artefact back to the British people at the London office of the British Council, where it will go on display.

“It was the rejoining of the pou, or a community, and revitalising Maggie Papakura’s legacy to showcase our culture to the world,” he said.