PSNZ Honours - One Person’s Story

2020 PSNZ Honours – One Person’s Story

By Stephanie Forrester APSNZ, Secretary PSNZ Honours Board

I HAD THE privilege of seeing 110 submissions of beautiful Honours sets during the 2020 PSNZ Honours process. I had many communications with those submitting their sets due to the disruption of COVID-19. The story of one set stands out for me and with the author Louise Savage’s permission I thought that this was one story that PSNZ members would like to hear. Louise was successful in gaining her APSNZ with this set of images titled My Country Life.

Louise’s Story

“I wish there had been an opportunity to tell the story behind my set. They are all pictures taken of my everyday life on a sheep and beef station in the hill country of Gisborne. In 2017 my husband died unexpectedly, and I had to leave the farm with my two teenagers so a manager could move into our house. It was traumatic at the time as we lost not just him but our neighbours, school, community, dogs, horses, chooks and entire way of life.

Two years down the track I started searching through my pictures to put together my set, and it was a wonderful experience to relive all those memories of just the day-to-day things you do on a farm. Once I have the pictures back I will hang some of them in the house I live in now.

The set is a memento of many years of my farming life that are now over for ever.”