Introduction
Sarah Mary Catherine Stirling, known as Hera Stirling (also known as Hera Munro, born 1876) was a Māori activist, suffragette, and missionary of Ngāi Tahu descent.
Biography
Born as Sarah Mary Catherine Stirling in 1876, she married Himeperi Munro and also used his name.
At the start of the twentieth century, Stirling helped establish the Māori Department of the Women's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU) in Wanganui, New Zealand. From 1906 to 1908, Stirling continued to be an active member of the Māori Department, operating out of Putiki, whilst teaching bible classes and working as a secretary for the WCTU. Stirling then founded a branch in Te Hauke, about 200 kilometers east of Wanganui. In 1911, the first national convention for the Māori Department of the WCTU was held just outside of Hastings in the town of Pakipaki, where each of the Māori branches gathered. Shortly afterwards, the various branches absorbed into a uniform District Branch, with Stirling serving as its General Organiser.
In 1922, Stirling became the first woman elected to a synod in the Anglican Diocese of Waiapu.