The David Simmons Archive
David Roy Simmons
Rawiri Te Puru Terehou
Ethnologist · Scholar of Māori Culture · Museum Curator · 1930–2015
David Roy Simmons was one of New Zealand's foremost ethnologists and a dedicated scholar of Māori culture, art, and history. Over a career spanning more than two decades at the Otago Museum and Auckland War Memorial Museum, he reshaped scholarly understanding of Māori migration, tattooing, carving, and place names.
- Born
- 6 September 1930, Auckland, New Zealand
- Died
- 30 November 2015
- Māori name
- Rawiri Te Puru Terehou
- Spouse
- Winifred Mary Harwood (m. 1955, d. 2003)
- Children
- Christopher, Nigel
- Grandchildren
- Luke, Jason, Michelle
- Residence
- Remuera, Auckland
- Resting place
- Purewa Cemetery, Auckland
On video — Guardians of Polynesia
Awards & honours
- 1978Elsdon Best Memorial Medal — Polynesian Society For outstanding contribution to Polynesian studies.
- 1985Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) — Queen's Birthday Honours For services to ethnology and the Māori people.
- 2013Auckland Museum Medal — Auckland War Memorial Museum Awarded to 'an outstanding scholar and student of Māori art and culture'.
- 2013Associate Emeritus — Auckland War Memorial Museum Appointed in recognition of his lifelong contribution to the museum.
