Brown Optimism
Jaqueline Cecilia (J.C.) Sturm 1927 – 2009 (Taranaki iwi, Te Āti Awa, Ngāti Ruanui, Te Pakakohi, and Te Whakatōhea of Ōpōtiki mai Tawhiti)
Twenty years they planted, nurtured
Trained, pruned, grafted me
Only to find a native plant
Will always a native be.
How being out of step, place, tune, joint
In time became a preference
Not a pain, hardly matters now.
JC Sturm – excerpt from ‘In Loco Parentis’, 1996
The choice of mana whenua poet J.C. Sturm’s poem "Brown Optimism" for the outside of Te Matapihi ki te Ao Nui honours both her own prestigious artistic career and her seminal role as a librarian at the Wellington Public Library in Te Ngākau for over 20 years.
Sturm, also known as Te Kare Papuni and Jacquie Baxter, first joined the Library in what is now the City Gallery building and later worked in Te Matapihi ki te Ao Nui itself. She was one of the first Māori librarians in the country, and from 1972 the principal New Zealand Room librarian for Wellington. There are many Wellingtonians who remember Jacquie, including staff still at the Council who worked with her.
The choice of mana whenua poet J.C. Sturm’s poem "Brown Optimism" for the outside of Te Matapihi ki te Ao Nui honours both her own prestigious artistic career and her seminal role as a librarian at the Wellington Public Library in Te Ngākau for over 20 years.
Sturm, also known as Te Kare Papuni and Jacquie Baxter, first joined the Library in what is now the City Gallery building and later worked in Te Matapihi ki te Ao Nui itself. She was one of the first Māori librarians in the country, and from 1972 the principal New Zealand Room librarian for Wellington. There are many Wellingtonians who remember Jacquie, including staff still at the Council who worked with her.
“It was her knowledge and bicultural outlook that led to her having a major impact in her role. She really was universally loved and as well as being an excellent reference librarian, also became the ‘go-to’ person for local fiction writers and poets who would seek out her advice and companionship.”
“It was her knowledge and bicultural outlook that led to her having a major impact in her role. She really was universally loved and as well as being an excellent reference librarian, also became the ‘go-to’ person for local fiction writers and poets who would seek out her advice and companionship.”
- Gabor Toth, librarian and colleague
- Gabor Toth, librarian and colleague
- Gabor Toth, librarian and colleague
Her work as an artist is equally distinguished. One of New Zealand’s leading female Māori short story writers and poets, she is a unique and important voice in Aotearoa New Zealand literature. Her collected works, co-edited by Ruth Buchanan and Paul Millar, will be published in 2026 by Steele Roberts.
J.C. Sturm had just turned twenty when "Brown Optimism" was published in 1947 in the Otago University student magazine, Critic. The catalyst for the poem was a journey she made the previous year to meet, for the first time, whānau living in Te Urewera and Bay of Plenty.
Born in 1927, first her mother’s death, then her grandmother’s illness led to her being fostered, adopted and raised in the Pākehā world from the age of four. For 20 years Jacquie knew almost nothing about her Māori family. When she was 18 a chance meeting with her older sister led to her reconnecting with her birth family. It was a visit to her father’s whānau in late 1946 that compelled her to write "Brown Optimism."
Her work as an artist is equally distinguished. One of New Zealand’s leading female Māori short story writers and poets, she is a unique and important voice in Aotearoa New Zealand literature. Her collected works, co-edited by Ruth Buchanan and Paul Millar, will be published in 2026 by Steele Roberts.
J.C. Sturm had just turned twenty when "Brown Optimism" was published in 1947 in the Otago University student magazine, Critic. The catalyst for the poem was a journey she made the previous year to meet, for the first time, whānau living in Te Urewera and Bay of Plenty.
Born in 1927, first her mother’s death, then her grandmother’s illness led to her being fostered, adopted and raised in the Pākehā world from the age of four. For 20 years Jacquie knew almost nothing about her Māori family. When she was 18 a chance meeting with her older sister led to her reconnecting with her birth family. It was a visit to her father’s whānau in late 1946 that compelled her to write "Brown Optimism."
“Composed in near-perfect iambic pentameter with patterns of alliteration and internal rhyme for thematic emphasis, ‘Brown Optimism’ seems written to be spoken. While the poem’s anger is palpable, its optimism rejects the status quo and demands equality for Māori: a demand which, in today’s terms, comes close to biculturalism founded upon mana motuhake”
“Composed in near-perfect iambic pentameter with patterns of alliteration and internal rhyme for thematic emphasis, ‘Brown Optimism’ seems written to be spoken. While the poem’s anger is palpable, its optimism rejects the status quo and demands equality for Māori: a demand which, in today’s terms, comes close to biculturalism founded upon mana motuhake”
“Composed in near-perfect iambic pentameter with patterns of alliteration and internal rhyme for thematic emphasis, ‘Brown Optimism’ seems written to be spoken. While the poem’s anger is palpable, its optimism rejects the status quo and demands equality for Māori: a demand which, in today’s terms, comes close to biculturalism founded upon mana motuhake”
- Professor Paul Millar, Head of English at University of Canterbury.
- Professor Paul Millar, Head of English at University of Canterbury.
- Professor Paul Millar, Head of English at University of Canterbury.
With the approval of Jacquie’s son John Baxter and the Baxter whānau, Rangi Kipa from Tihei has reproduced the poem at a large scale with a background image of a young makomako tree, its serrated leaves metaphorically underlining that the poet’s words have teeth.
With the approval of Jacquie’s son John Baxter and the Baxter whānau, Rangi Kipa from Tihei has reproduced the poem at a large scale with a background image of a young makomako tree, its serrated leaves metaphorically underlining that the poet’s words have teeth.
“The enduring quality in the writing makes this work compelling given the era of its composition and its ongoing relevance. The placement at the main entry to Te Ngākau heralds the beginning of a new expression for this civic space with a kaupapa based in our relationship to taiao.”
“The enduring quality in the writing makes this work compelling given the era of its composition and its ongoing relevance. The placement at the main entry to Te Ngākau heralds the beginning of a new expression for this civic space with a kaupapa based in our relationship to taiao.”
“The enduring quality in the writing makes this work compelling given the era of its composition and its ongoing relevance. The placement at the main entry to Te Ngākau heralds the beginning of a new expression for this civic space with a kaupapa based in our relationship to taiao.”
- Rangi Kipa, Tihei
- Rangi Kipa, Tihei
- Rangi Kipa, Tihei
"Brown Optimism"
Jaqueline Cecilia (J.C.) Sturm, Te Kare Papuni 1927 – 2009 (Taranaki iwi, Te Āti Awa, Ngati Ruanui, Te Pakakohi, and Te Whakatōhea of Ōpōtiki mai Tawhiti)
Jaqueline Cecilia (J.C.) Sturm, Te Kare Papuni 1927 – 2009 (Taranaki iwi, Te Āti Awa, Ngati Ruanui, Te Pakakohi, and Te Whakatōhea of Ōpōtiki mai Tawhiti)
Twenty years they planted, nurtured
Trained, pruned, grafted me
Only to find a native plant
Will always a native be.
How being out of step, place, tune, joint
In time became a preference
Not a pain, hardly matters now.
Twenty years they planted, nurtured
Trained, pruned, grafted me
Only to find a native plant
Will always a native be.
How being out of step, place, tune, joint
In time became a preference
Not a pain, hardly matters now.
- JC Sturm – excerpt from ‘In Loco Parentis’, 1996
- JC Sturm – excerpt from ‘In Loco Parentis’, 1996
Hear J.C. Sturm’s son John Baxter read his mother’s poem here
Hear J.C. Sturm’s son John Baxter read his mother’s poem here
Jacqueline Cecilia (J.C.) Sturm 1927 - 2009 (Taranaki iwi, Te Āti Awa, Ngāti Ruanui, Te Pakakohi, and Te Whakatōhea of Ōpōtiki mai Tawhiti)
Jack Papuni married Mary Kingsley Harrison in 1924. Their older daughter Evadne was born in 1926 and Jacquie in 1927. Mary died of septicaemia 13 days later.
Jacquie with her foster mother Ethel Sturm, around 1930. Jacquie is about three years old.
Jacquie graduating B.A in 1950. Three years later she would complete her M.A. majoring in Philosophy, becoming the first Māori woman to receive a postgraduate degree in New Zealand.
Jacquie with her uncle, George Harrison, in Auckland, Christmas 1946, the year she wrote “Brown Optimism”. When this photo was taken, he and Jacquie had only just reconnected after 10 years apart.
Jacquie has whakapapa to Parihaka. This photo shows her reading some of her Parihaka poems from Postscripts (2001) at the 2003 Puke Ariki exhibition Parihaka — the Struggle for Peace.
Jacquie’s farewell from Wellington City Libraries, with close friend librarian Win Kayes.
Jack Papuni married Mary Kingsley Harrison in 1924. Their older daughter Evadne was born in 1926 and Jacquie in 1927. Mary died of septicaemia 13 days later.
Jacquie with her foster mother Ethel Sturm, around 1930. Jacquie is about three years old.
Jacquie graduating B.A in 1950. Three years later she would complete her M.A. majoring in Philosophy, becoming the first Māori woman to receive a postgraduate degree in New Zealand.
Jacquie with her uncle, George Harrison, in Auckland, Christmas 1946, the year she wrote “Brown Optimism”. When this photo was taken, he and Jacquie had only just reconnected after 10 years apart.
Jacquie has whakapapa to Parihaka. This photo shows her reading some of her Parihaka poems from Postscripts (2001) at the 2003 Puke Ariki exhibition Parihaka — the Struggle for Peace.
Jacquie’s farewell from Wellington City Libraries, with close friend librarian Win Kayes.