Elma Maua

Who was Elma Maua?

Elma Ngatokoa Maua was a Cook Islands-born New Zealand journalist and editor. Maua was one of New Zealand's first Pacific Islander journalists.

Maua was born in Rarotonga, Cook Islands in 1948, the youngest of six children. She moved with her family to Wellington, New Zealand, in 1952.

She worked as a journalist for Radio New Zealand and Niu FM. In 1999, Maua briefly returned to the Cook Islands, where she worked in the Prime Minister's office.

In 2010, her deteriorating health forced Maua to retire as the sports editor of Radio New Zealand International. She died on 28 April 2010, in Wellington, New Zealand, at the age of 61. She was survived by her five children.