Anne Salmond grew up on the East Coast and as a teenager, was taken under the wing of Eruera and Amiria Stirling, kaumātua from that district. Now Distinguished Professor in Maori Studies and Anthropology at the University of Auckland, she is the author of seven award-winning books and many articles on Maori life and early contacts between Europeans and islanders in Polynesia.

Anne is a Foreign Associate of the National Academy of Sciences; a Corresponding Fellow of the British Academy; a Fellow of the Royal Society of New Zealand; and a Dame Commander of the British Empire. In 2021 she became a member of the Order of New Zealand, New Zealand’s highest award.