Suffrage memorial celebrated

The Kate Sheppard National Memorial to Women’s Suffrage has been entered on the New Zealand Heritage List Rārangi Kōrero as a place of outstanding historical and cultural significance.

The 2.1-metre-high bas-relief sculpture, tucked away behind the Municipal Chambers on Oxford Terrace, depicts a life-sized Kate Sheppard, flanked by five other influential suffragettes. The artwork was created for the 1993 commemorations of New Zealand women gaining the right to vote 100 years earlier.

Its creation was partially funded through a public campaign, which was so successful that there were extra funds which established a Kate Sheppard Memorial award. Artist Margriet Windhausen, South Canterbury, created the memorial, which has Kate in the central spot, flanked by five other notable women campaigners.

They are:
Meri Te Tai Mangakāhia, of Taitokerau, who requested the vote for women from
Te Kotahitanga, the Māori Parliament
Amey Daldy, foundation member of the Auckland Women’s Christian Temperance Union and president of the Auckland Franchise League
Ada Wells, of Christchurch, who campaigned vigorously for equal educational opportunities for girls and women
Harriet Morison, of Dunedin, vice president of the Tailoresses’ Union and a powerful advocate for working women
Helen Nicol, who pioneered the women’s franchise campaign in Dunedin.

Today, the memorial is a place of gathering and reflection. Each year on Suffrage Day, 19 September, the Christchurch Branch of the National Council of Women still hold a celebration commemoration, laying white camellias, the symbol of women’s suffrage, at the foot of it.