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More than 100 years in the past, a Māori woman left behind her profession as a tour guide and performer in New Zealand and journeyed to England, where she would shortly achieve a milestone by registering at Oxford University.

In a tragic turn, Papakura – believed to be the initial woman from an Indigenous community to study at the institution – passed away just weeks before completing her thesis, and in the decades since, her family has fought to have her academic qualification acknowledged.

Last week, that recognition was granted. In front of more than 100 kin and iwi members who journeyed to Oxford to witness the honour, Papakura was after her death granted an Master of Philosophy in anthropology for her work documenting the life, tongue and customs of her Arawa people.

Papakura’s relative, Grant, was teary as she accepted the certificate from the institution's vice-chancellor.

“It was very surreal. I needed to compose myself because I was getting emotional and didn’t want ugly crying on TV,” she remarked.

Watching a live broadcast from the nearby museum of natural history, many of her relatives launched into a thunderous haka as a mark of respect.

Brought into the world in Aotearoa's coastal region in 1873, Papakura grew up during a period of major transformation for Māori, including the rapid decline of land, language and Indigenous knowledge as the influence of colonial rule intensified.

She was raised by her elders from two Arawa subtribes, around the geothermal village of the thermal village. The village is near the town of Rotorua, famed for its boiling mud, warm waterways, and water spouts that gush from the Earth’s crust.

It was while working as a tour leader near Rotorua that she attracted attention during a visit by royalty in 1901, and later became a figure, featured on a variety of souvenir cards and in photoshoots.

Ten years after, Papakura travelled to the UK with a cultural performance tour group that went bankrupt, with several of the members remaining to work or marry locals.

She returned to Rotorua only for a short time before wedding a affluent Englishman, her husband. She relocated to the county where she registered at the college and became friends with the anthropologist Penniman.

In elegant handwriting, she devoted time documenting her comprehensive understanding of genealogy, past events, language and practices on numerous of pages of notepaper, recalling the ancient traditions of the Arawa tribe.

Remarkably for the era, it was a detailed work about native communities, by an Indigenous woman.

But Papakura passed away in 1930, aged 56, just three weeks before her thesis was due.

The anthropologist would subsequently publish the thesis as a volume, The Old Time Māori, which her family say is as relevant now as ever. Grant said it has been used by the Māori trying to reclaim their tongue and heritage, even demonstrating valuable in land dispute cases.

“We found a lot of details about our territories in the community. All the caverns and the geysers,” she explained. For nearly a century, the fact she was not granted her degree proved rather a sore point.

“Almost a century, why did it take so long?” she asked. “We’ve been quietly and steadily sharing her narrative.”

At a reception with the relatives among the displays at the university's Pitt Rivers museum on Saturday, the university head, Professor Tracey, stated it was an honour to finally acknowledge Papakura’s impact as a scholar.

“I could not think of a person – worldwide, in history – more deserving of that recognition,” she said. “At a time when very few women attended the university, so few ladies pursued higher education.”

The group of Te Arawa spent nearly a week in the UK, attending a range of ceremonies, shows and other events.

An elder, who was part of the group, expressed a sense of “wonder”. “The university has been established for nine centuries and I’m told this is among the initial times they’ve granted a posthumous degree. It’s an incredible thing for our [family] to be honored by.”

Part of the group's tour included gifting a two-metre carved figure, or post, elaborately carved into a slab of tōtara wood.

Papakura and her performance group brought the carving to Britain in 1911, during their initial visit.

“They employed the whakairo as a facade behind them and they would perform in front of it,” said Rob Schuster Rika, a sculptor who is additionally a relative of Papakura.

It stayed in the United Kingdom, changing several possessors and purposes – including as a craft table – before entering a state of disrepair, Rika said. Recently, after careful repair by Rika, Te Arawa presented the pou again to the British people at the Stratford office of the cultural organization, where it will go on display.

“This was the reuniting of the carving, or a community, and renewing Maggie Papakura’s legacy to share our culture to the globe,” he said.