Hineani Melbourne

Hineani Melbourne was born in Whakatāne and raised in Kawerau, Bay of Plenty, where storytelling was part of daily life. "We were a family that loved telling stories. My grandmother would tell us stories in front of the fire while she crocheted. I enjoyed stories. I was an avid reader, I loved writing, and I loved making up stories."

While at Auckland university and after graduating in 1978 with a double degree in archaeology and Māori, Melbourne worked as a journalist for Mana. A newspaper published in multiple languages, Mana was driven by a strong sense of purpose and social change, covering stories about Auckland and its many communities. "It was run by people who wanted to make a change," she recalls. "A lot of them were seen as radicals. It was fun! You did everything from selling the papers on the street corners, doing interviews and setting the type."

In the early 1980s, Melbourne moved to Christchurch and joined TVNZ's What Now? as a researcher, contributing to other children's programming, including te reo Māori segments for Sesame Street. "The atmosphere at the time was that you could try things. It was more like a public service than it is now. You could move around."

Relocating to Auckland later in the 80s, Melbourne worked across researcher and director roles on the groundbreaking television series Koha and current affairs show Te Kupenga. In 1988 she directed a documentary about the Māori Women's Welfare League. "The Grand Dames, we called them. They were beautiful. They were articulate. They were a force to be reckoned with, and when they told you or your producer to do something, we did it."

The experience was transformative. "I wanted to direct but in those days there weren't that many women directors. I think Merata Mita can attest to that. I kept banging on the door and one day the Māori Women's Welfare League's Grand Dames heard there was this crazy young woman who wanted to direct in the field and the boys wouldn't let her. So they came in, had a little chat with my boss, and the next thing I knew, I was out there directing in the field."

Her work on Waka Huia deepened her connection with Māori heritage. "True confession, my Māori was virtually non-existent when Waka Huia started… but there were very few Māori television researchers at that time, and this was in the days before Google. So you actually had to ring people, and talk to people, and go and visit people to get the information, and get them to agree to meet up and talk on camera. That was my role in Waka Huia, as well as training others to be researchers and presenters — on how to find and shape a story."

Melbourne later became Waka Huia's first woman producer, having previously been a foundation member, a senior researcher and its first woman field director.

In the early 1990s she co-founded Te Ara Productions with Debra Rewiti and Eliza Bidois, creating an independent Māori women-led production company. She worked as a producer and director, developing magazine and drama series, driven by a strong sense of responsibility to increase Māori representation on screen.

Alongside her earlier work in children's television, Melbourne also produced and co-created Moko Toa, an award-winning te reo Māori special effects drama series for children. Produced for TVNZ, Moko Toa: Amazing Adventures (1998) and Moko Toa: Hara's Revenge (2001) were groundbreaking fantasy dramas that placed Māori heroes, language, and storytelling at the centre of children's screen culture.

From the late 1990s, Melbourne produced a range of short films made by Māori filmmakers, including the sci-fi horror short 13 Days Out (2003), directed by Te Rangitawaea Tiwai Reedy, The Winter Boy (2010), directed by Rachel House, and Ūkaipō Whenua (2016), directed by Kararaina Rangihau. She produced and oversaw numerous short films for the Māori talent development initiative Ngā Aho Shorts, while also serving as chair and executive producer of Ngā Aho Whakaari; managing the operations of the industry guild between 2015 and 2021.

Melbourne balanced roles as a researcher, producer and executive producer across genres and broadcasters from the early 2000s onwards. In 2002 she produced a television series covering the biennial Aotearoa Traditional Māori Performing Arts Festival, now known as Te Matatini. The series explored how Ngāti Whātua hosted what is now recognised as the largest celebration of traditional Māori performing arts excellence in the world.

In 2004 she began a long association with Māori Television as executive producer, building a highly trained professional team while ensuring productions met te reo Māori and tikanga requirements for Māori audiences. In 2017, working as an independent producer, Melbourne served as executive producer of Taha Tauiwi: The Otherside, a Māori Television documentary series told in te reo Māori that explored identity and whakapapa by connecting Māori with their non-Māori heritage.

Since 2008, Melbourne has also been part of Pounamu Media Group, as company director and producer of independent productions. She has managed outside broadcasts of kapa haka events — the Tūhoe Ahurei and Matatini. Between 2008 and 2012 Melbourne produced Te Au Kiwa, a weekly radio programme on Māori issues, for BBC World Service.

Melbourne's relationship with TVNZ series Waka Huia continued, and from 2012 to 2015 she served as producer of this landmark Māori language archival documentary series. "We were very honoured and very privileged. Some of those stories are still relevant today. These stories are so important. The whole purpose was for future generations. We were privileged to be able to make a bit of a contribution to a huge library of stories in te reo Māori about small communities, marae and families, which otherwise would have been lost."

As of writing, Melbourne works as a media consultant, providing advice and critique on multimedia productions, including consultancy with the Science Media Centre in Wellington. Between 2021 and 2023 she supported the development of both an RNZ audio-visual documentary series and a feature documentary film about the metal band Alien Weaponry and their use of te reo Māori in their songs.

In recent years Melbourne has been the producer, or kaiwhakaputa, of Radio Waatea, producing daily news and current affairs programmes in English and te reo Māori. Alongside her extensive screen and broadcast work, Melbourne has pursued high-level academic study as a PhD candidate, researching the ownership and kaitiakitanga of Aotearoa's screen content.

Profile written by Jane Ross, published on 13 March 2026