[4] From 1962 to 1966 Orbell was the editor of bilingual quarterly Te Ao Hou / The New World, published by New Zealand's Māori Affairs Department and printed by Pegasus Press.
[5] During her time as editor, she ensured more literary content was included in the journal, and increased the number of translations of historical Māori texts.
[7] Inspired by this discovery and determined to bring this literature to a wider audience, she returned to the University of Auckland to complete a Ph.D. in anthropology;[2][3] her thesis was about waiata aroha (Māori love songs).
[3] Orbell's compilation of the anthology Contemporary Maori Writing (1970) included early works by a number of New Zealand Māori writers that were later to become significant figures in New Zealand literature, including Witi Ihimaera, Patricia Grace, Arapera Blank, Harry Dansey and Hirini Mead.
[9] A review in The Press said:[10] Since Maori writers rarely appear in New Zealand literary magazines, one tends to forget about them, and it is surprising to find in a book like this that there are so many obviously competent writers among the Maoris.Orbell and her co-author of Traditional Songs of the Maori (1975), Mervyn McLean, were the first to publish Māori lyrics and music together, as previously Māori music had been largely ignored by Europeans.
[21][22] Illustrated Encyclopedia of Māori Myth and Legend (1995), Songs of a Kaumatua: As sung by Kino Hughes (2002) and Birds of Aotearoa: A Natural and Cultural History (2003) were finalists in the New Zealand Book Awards.