Bible Society New Zealand >

Joy Cowley Writing Tarore Story

Apr 28, 2009

Award winning author, Joy Cowley, has teamed up with Bible Society to write the remarkable story of Tarore.

In 1835, Bible Society published 100 copies of the Gospel of Luke in Maori. In 1836, missionaries gave one of these Gospels to a young Maori girl, Tarore, at a mission school near Matamata.

Tarore’s subsequent acceptance of the Christian faith and her murder at a young age had a great impact upon the Maori people with many coming to faith as a result.

The Tarore story will be published and distributed free to 110,000 children through Christian Religious Education (CRE), formerly known as Bible in Schools. It will also be distributed to up to 30,000 school children in Catholic primary schools.

The book will contain selected verses from the Gospel of Luke, and it will be illustrated using a series of eighteen paintings depicting the story created by Waipawa artist, Mary Glover Bibby, in the 1920s.

Bible Society CEO, Mark Brown, says, “Not only will the children learn something about the beginnings of Christianity in this country, but they will also have the same opportunity to experience the life changing message of the Gospel that Tarore did.”

Read more about the Tarore Story