Suffrage Memorial recognised with listing

WORDS: Anthony Phillips IMAGES: Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga

One of a few memorials commemorating the suffrage movement in Aotearoa New Zealand, the Auckland Women’s Suffrage Memorial, has been listed as a Category 1 historic place.

Located in Auckland’s city centre, in the former Lower Khartoum Place, the Auckland Women’s Suffrage Memorial was created in 1993 to commemorate the centenary of women’s suffrage in Aotearoa New Zealand. Forming part of a busy pedestrian through-way connecting Kitchener and Lorne Streets, the Memorial’s steps offer an easy transition from the heart of the city to the Auckland Art Gallery and Albert Park.

The Memorial is significant for its close association with the wider women’s movement in Aotearoa New Zealand and in particular the National Council of Women New Zealand (NCWNZ).

The NCWNZ become notable as one of the most influential women’s organisations during the 20th century and led the push to further women’s rights beyond suffrage reform. The 1960s and 1970s saw a rise of secondwave feminism with a renewed focus on advocacy and awareness for women’s issues across mainstream society. Campaigns advocating for equal pay and employment, equal rights and maternity leave, were areas of focus for the organisation which led to a dramatic improvement in women’s participation in areas such as employment and tertiary education.

The commemoration of Suffrage Day started in 1971. Stemming from advocacy led by the Auckland Women’s Liberation Front (AWLF) with the intention of raising the profile of women’s history, they were successful in the development of an annual event. Leading into the 1990s and the centenary of women’s suffrage, the 1993 Suffrage Centennial Trust/Whakatū Wahine was established to contribute to commemorations that would promote public understanding and education of suffrage year. Nearly 100 years since women were enfranchised and the progress that was achieved on behalf of women in Aotearoa New Zealand, there were few public memorials marking these significant social advances across the country.

Artist Jan Morrison proposed the creation of a mural commemorating the suffrage centenary and approached the Centennial Year Trust/Whakatū Wahine and then Auckland City Council to secure funding.

After considering a series of locations such as the Ellen Melville Hall, Khartoum Place as it was then known, was selected. Morrison engaged fellow artist Clauida Pond-Eyley to collaborate with her on the project, both of whom had artistic backgrounds centred in environmental and human rights activism. Pond-Eyley’s work had a strong focus on feminist perspectives.

Morrison and Pond-Eyley set about creating a series of hand-crafted panels of over 2,000 ceramic tiles which would front the existing cascading water feature. With bold colour palettes, the design embraced the three-dimensional space of the water feature in a wraparound mural that people can experience as they walk through. The process of creating the tiles included airbrushing glazes before firing and slip-trailing and silk-screening processes achieving the stencil transfer of the images. Remarkably, this mural is understood to be the first time all three processes were combined on an installation of this scale and in a public art space.

The mural depicts the struggles of women and highlights the significant historical achievements and progress of the suffragists. The mural prominently displays the 1893 petition, depicted as a scroll, across the fountain pools and includes flax kete to represent the weaving of two cultures.

Prominent suffrage individuals featured include:

• Amey Daldy, president of the Auckland Women’s Franchise League (AWFL) who went on to be a driving force forming the NCWNZ and served as its president in 1898.

• Anne Ward, the first President of the Women’s Christian Temperance Union (WCTU).

• Lizzy Rattray, one of the earliest women journalists, an elected member of the AWFL and one of the suffragists who presented the 1893 petition to the House of Representatives.

• Elizabeth Yates, first woman mayor in the British Empire.

• Annie Schnackenberg, who was a founding member and president of the WCTU (1891–1897) and a founding member of NCWNZ.

Also depicted are Matilda Allsopp and Fanny Brown, two of the first seven women enrolled to vote in Aotearoa New Zealand, and Ada Wells suffragist and first national secretary of NCWNZ, among others.

The Memorial also honours suffragist campaigner Meri Te Tai Mangakāhia of Te Rarawa who was the first recorded woman to address Te Kotahitanga Parliament, an autonomous Māori parliament that convened annually between 1892 and 1902.

Sitting prominently, a separate section of the mural depicts four women with bicycles. The inclusion of the humble bicycle as part of the mural is symbolic and represents the part bicycles played in empowering suffragists to gather petition signatures in outlying areas. This section of the mural was added some weeks after the mural was unveiled.

In 1993, as part of the centenary commemorations and in keeping with the theme of empowering future generations of women, the Auckland

Women’s Suffrage Memorial was officially unveiled by President Mary Robinson of the Republic of Island and then Governor General, Dame Cath Tizard. The occasion was particularly significant as both Robinson and Tizard were the first women to hold their respective offices with Dame Cath also being the first woman Mayor of Auckland (1983-1990). Many attended the celebration including descendants of Meri Te Tai Mangakāhia. In recent years, there have been attempts to remove the suffrage memorial and develop the site. The cultural commentariat of Auckland offered many views and perspectives on both sides, enthusiastic to have it both retained or moved. Such attempts drew fierce opposition from various parts of Auckland society, including the NCWNZ and Zonta NZ. The campaign to protect the memorial made a significant achievement in 2016 when Auckland Council scheduled the memorial as a historic place under the Auckland Unitary Plan. That same year, the Waitematā Local Board renamed Lower Khartoum Place as Te Hā o Hine Place, a name gifted by Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei and derived from the Māori proverb ‘Me aro koe ki te hā o Hineahu-one’ translating to ‘pay heed to the dignity of women’.

The recent listing of the Auckland Women’s Suffrage Memorial by Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga recognises the significant contributions these pioneering women have made to our national identity and social and political history. The listing also recognises the 21st century advocacy of a new generation of Auckland women who campaigned for the Memorial’s recognition and protection. As a result of this outcome future generations of New Zealanders will be exposed to its educational learnings and artistic values. n