Southern Maori was one of the four original New Zealand Parliamentary Māori electorates, from 1868 to 1996.
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The electorate includes the following population centres:
The electorate includes the following tribal areas: Ngāi Tahu,
The Southern Maori electorate included the whole of the South Island to 1954, but its population was less than that of the other Māori electorates. In 1954 the boundaries were extended to include much of the East Coast of the North Island up to Napier and Wairoa in Hawkes Bay.
The first member of parliament for the new Māori electorate of Southern Maori from 1868 was John Patterson; he retired in 1870.
In 1932, Eruera Tirikatene won the electorate in a by-election and became the first Rātana MP; and then a Labour MP following the Labour-Ratana pact. When he died in 1967 his daughter Whetu Tirikatene-Sullivan took over the seat in a 1967 by-election.
In 1996 with MMP, the Te Tai Tonga electorate covering the South Island took over the major part of the Southern Maori electorate. Whetu Tirikatene-Sullivan who had held the Southern Maori electorate for many years narrowly lost the new seat to Tu Wyllie of New Zealand First and retired from politics.
The Southern Maori electorate was represented by 10 Members of Parliament:[1]