Southern Maori was one of New Zealand's four original parliamentary Māori electorates established in 1868, along with Eastern Maori, Western Maori and Eastern Maori. In 1996, with the introduction of MMP, the Maori electorates were updated, and Southern Maori was replaced with the Te Tai Tonga and Te Puku O Te Whenua electorates.

From its initial definition of the Maori electorates in 1867 to the 1954 Maori electoral boundary redefinition, the Southern Maori electorate covered the entire South Island plus it included Stewart Island.^[1] It did not include the Chatham Islands, which did not belong to any Maori electorate until after a change to the Legislative Act and from the 1922 election, the Chatham Islands belonged to the Western Maori electorate.^[2] The 1954 redefinition responded to the fact that the Southern Maori electorate had a much lower voter base than the three other Maori electorates, and this was responded to by adding the south-eastern part of the North Island to the Southern Maori electorate. Population centres that came to the electorate through this measure included Wellington, Masterton, Palmerston North, Napier, and Wairoa. These changes became effective with the 1954 election.^[3]

The next redistribution of Maori electoral boundaries was carried out in 1983, just after the responsibility for doing so had been transferred to the Representation Commission. The North Island boundaries of the Southern Maori electorate were adjusted, and Palmerston North transferred to the Western Maori electorate in that process. These boundaries were used in the 1984 election.^[4] Further boundary adjustments were undertaken in 1987, which became operative with the 1987 election.^[5]

Ngāi Tahu and Ngati Kahungunu were the dominant tribes within the area covered by the electorate.

The Southern Maori electorate included the whole of the South Island to 1954, but its population was less than that of the other Māori electorates. In 1954 the boundaries were extended to include much of the East Coast of the North Island up to Napier and Wairoa in Hawkes Bay.

The first member of parliament for the new Māori electorate of Southern Maori from 1868 was John Patterson; he retired in 1870.

In 1932, Eruera Tirikatene won the electorate in a by-election and became the first Rātana MP; and then a Labour MP following the Labour-Ratana pact. When he died in 1967 his daughter Whetu Tirikatene-Sullivan took over the seat in a 1967 by-election.

In 1993 the National Party did not stand a candidate in the electorate as their proposed candidate did not apply in time.

In 1996 with mixed-member proportional (MMP) representation, the Te Tai Tonga electorate covering the South Island took over the major part of the Southern Maori electorate. Whetu Tirikatene-Sullivan who had held the Southern Maori electorate for many years narrowly lost the new seat to Tu Wyllie of New Zealand First and retired from politics.

Note that the affiliation of many early candidates is not known.