She was part of the 1970s movement that sought to revise academic understandings of the Treaty of Waitangi and educate the public on its translations and significance.

New Zealand history was not taught at universities at this time but through her teachers, Frederick Wood and J. C. Beaglehole, her interest in the subject was sparked.

[1] While her husband worked as a teacher, Ross wrote a primary school bulletin, Te Tiriti o Waitangi, which was published in 1958.

[2] This was written as a dialogue between different characters to teach school children the range of interpretations of the treaty and the conflicting meaning found within them.

[3] Her work on te tiriti progressed and in 1972 the New Zealand Journal of History published her paper on the text and translations of the treaty.