One of New Zealand's most respected historians and writers Dame Judith Binney has died.

She was 70 years old and died at her home in Auckland late on Tuesday night.
Born in New South Wales in 1940, Dame Judith arrived in New Zealand in 1947 and grew up in Auckland.
She specialised in the history of Maori and Pakeha engagement and produced acclaimed biographies and histories.
Dame Judith believed it was important that the country's story should be known, making it accessible to the general public with her well-written and well-researched books.

She won several awards for her work, including the 2010 New Zealand Post Book of the Year and General Non-fiction Award for Encircled Lands: Te Urewera, 1820-1921.

More at Radio New Zealand.

And at stuff.co.nz

And from Creative New Zealand:
Creative New Zealand is saddened by the news that historian Dame Judith Binney has died.

Dame Judith Binney has traversed cultural and academic barriers to produce writing that sets a benchmark for historical scholarship in New Zealand. Her work has informed New Zealanders about the relationships between Māori and Pakeha and demonstrated the dynamic history of our country.

Dame Judith Binney’s relationship with the people of Tūhoe afforded her a closeness to their stories that was reflected in the respect with which she treated them. This was shown in her early work Mihaia, a short biography of Rua Kenana, published in 1979; Redemption Songs, her ambitious biography of Te Kooti Arikirangi Te Turuki , published in 1995 and her most recent work Encircled Lands, 2010. These seminal works exemplify Dame Judith Binney’s ability to balance western academic traditions and Māori oral history to create a unique way of telling New Zealand history.

Tūhoe honoured Dame Judith Binney with the title of endearment, “Te Tomairangi o te aroha/ Tears of love”.

Judith Binney was member of the Creative New Zealand Arts Council from 2009-2010.
"Everyone at Creative New Zealand joins Dame Judith Binney's family and friends in mourning the loss of a great New Zealander. Her contribution to helping us understand ourselves and our nation will be admired and valued for generations to come," said Chair of the Creative New Zealand Arts Council, Alistair Carruthers.

E te whaea Judith, kua riro atu rā koe e te ringa kaha o aitua. Kei te hahae te tau o te ate. kei te mōteatea ngā mahara mō koe kua rere rā ki te kāhui rangatira, te kahui o Matariki. Te kīkī ā manu, i tēnei rā kua ngaro atu i te kitenga ā kanohi. Ko te mamae ia ka kai ki te kiri. Kia kapo ake ko te maumahara. Ko koe tēnei ka riro nei. Kia kakengia e koe tō waka whakarei ki Te Reinga e titiro ake ai koe ki ngā tai e rua e papaki mai rā. E kore a muri e hokia. Na reira haere, haere, haere atu rā.

Haere ra e te wahine rangahau kōrero. O mahi rangatira i awhina e koe ngā iwi katoa o te motu. E tika ana te ingoa i tapaina e Tūhoe mou ara ‘Te Tomairangi o te aroha” Nā tōu aroha i waimarie tātou katoa ki ou mahi rangatira. Na reira moe mai ra. Ka huri atu ki tōu whānau e noho pani nei. Kia kaha, kia maia, kia manawanui. Mā te atua koutou e manaaki, e tiaki.

And from Dame Judith Binney's long-time friend and publisher, Bridget Williams:

On Tuesday 15 February 2011, Dame Judith Binney died suddenly at home, after a long illness.

Dame Judith, (photo above by Gil Hanly), was one of New Zealand’s most remarkable writers and historians. As Wharehuia Milroy wrote, ‘Encircled Lands takes the reader through Tῡhoe trials and tribulations in a way which no other history book on Māori has ever achieved.’
Emeritus Professor Alan Ward also acknowledged her work: ‘Encircled Lands is arguably the most important book on Māori-Pākehā relations to be published in the last quarter-century, unlikely to be equalled in this generation.’

Dame Judith was widely honoured for her work in New Zealand history. Tῡhoe gave her the name Te Tomairangi o Te Aroha ( 'the little rain of love’) at the 2009 launch of Encircled Lands: Te Urewera 1820-1921. This book went on to win the 2010 New Zealand Post Book of the Year. Her contribution to the writing of New Zealand (and particuarly Māori) history was acknowledged in the Prime Minister's Award in 2006.
She was made a Distinguished Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit in 2006; she was a Fellow of the Royal Society of New Zealand and an inaugural Fellow of the New Zealand Academy of Humanities.
Judith Binney had served on the boards of Te Papa Tongarewa The Museum of New Zealand, the Historic Places Trust and Creative New Zealand.

Born in Australia in 1940, she arrived in New Zealand In 1947. Judith Binney was Professor Emeritus at the University of Auckland, where she taught history for many years.

Her own words speak of her dedication to the writing and teaching of history in New Zealand: ‘If we who live in the present in Aotearoa can discuss our shared history in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, then we may gain from the past. If we cannot do this, then we will have learnt nothing from the past and we will have exchanged nothing with each other.’

Judith Binney’s books include:

- The Legacy of Guilt: A Life of Thomas Kendall (AUP, 1968; BWB, 2005), F.P. Wilson Award;

- Mihaia: The Prophet Rua Kenana and His Community at Maungapohatu (OUP, 1979; AUP/BWB, 1996; with Gillian Chaplin and Craig Wallace)

- Nga Morehu: The Survivors (OUP, 1986; AUP/BWB, 1996, with Gillian Chaplin)

- Redemption Songs: A Life of Te Kooti Arikirangi Te Turuki (1995), Montana New Zealand Book of the Year Award

- The Shaping of History: Essays from the New Zealand Journal of History (BWB, 2001; edited by Judith Binney)

- Encircled Lands: Te Urewera 1820-1921 (BWB, 2009), NZ Post Book of the Year Award

- Stories Without End: Essays 1975-2010 (BWB, 2010)

At Bridget Williams Books, we feel the loss of a great writer, wise historian and wonderful friend.

Bridget Williams.

And a tribute in the New Zealand Herald.