Suffrage in Stitches

Recreating the suffrage petition through fabric, stories, conversations and community connections.

[suffrageinstitchesnz]

Maker’s name: Stitch and Butch for Sexual Abuse Help, Wellington

Petition sheet number: Unknown

Person honouring: Heni Te Kiri Karamu

Relationship to makers: None

Heni Te Kiri Karamu belonged to Ngāti Uenuku-kopako and Ngāti Hinepare of Te Arawa. She was descended from Ngatoro-i-rangi of Te Arawa canoe.

She was probably born in November 1840 at Kaitaia, where her mother Maraea had been taken as a child by Ngāpuhi after the capture of Mokoia Island.

After attending two mission schools in Auckland, Heni taught and worked as a governess before heading north with her parents. She married Te Kiri Karamu, a gumdigger, before settling in Katikati and having three sons and two daughters. She left her husband in 1861.

Heni Te Kiri Karamu is remembered in written history primarily for her involvement in the battle at Pukehinahina, or Gate Pā, on 29 April 1864. The women who had helped construct the fortification at Pukehinahina had been ordered to leave by Rawiri Puhirake before the British force attacked. Heni stayed, as she was recognised as a woman warrior. When the British troops were repelled, their wounded, left behind in the pā, were treated with kindness and humanity by the defenders.

In 1865-66, Heni fought in support of the government against the Pai Mārire movement and with Te Arawa forces led by Major William Mair against the Hauhau.

After the wars, Heni Te Kiri Karamu married Denis Stephen Foley, who kept a hotel and was in charge of the military canteen at Maketu. They had three daughters and three sons before Stephen was committed to Auckland’s asylum for attacking Heni.

In her later years Heni worked as a licensed interpreter, and was active in the Women's Christian Temperance Union, becoming secretary of the Māori mission and of the Rotorua Union.

Heni was also known as Heni Pore, or Jane Russell/Foley. She lived to see five generations of her descendants born, and died in June 1933. She was buried at the Rotorua cemetery.

Panel materials: Cotton sheeting, dye, cotton thread.

Unique ID number: VRS.2019.439

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Maker’s name: Margaret Diepenheim

Petition sheet number: 258

Person honouring: E. [Edith Ellen] Diepenheim

Relationship to maker: Great-aunt

Edith EIlen Diepenheim was born in 1870 in New Zealand. 

Her parents were Jan/John van Diepenheim, a shipwright born in November 1830 in Zwolle Netherlands and Diana Diepenhiem [born Deal]. Edith’s mother came from England to New Zealand on the Egmont in September 1856, arriving in Lyttelton when she was 16 years old. 

Edith signed the petition for women to vote 1891–93. She signed the petition on sheet 258, which is a light signature. 

Edith was employed as a dairymaid. She married George Forrest. They had four sons and lived at Hilton Street Kaiapoi, Canterbury.

Edith died in 1936 at the age of 66 years.

Panel materials:  Mixed media. 

Unique ID number: VRS.2019.EX1

[suffrageinstitchesnz]

Makers’ names: Lynette Kleiven (born Wright), Judy Wright, Joan Adam, William Wright, Tim Wright, Robyn Tyler, Ben Wright, Jess Ashley

Petition sheet number: 297

Person honouring: Rachel Wright

Relationship to makers: Great-great-grandmother of William Wright and Lynette Kleiven

Rachel Gibb was born in Carnbroe, Lanarkshire, Scotland about 1848.

 She was a milliner and dress maker and in 1870 she married John Wright, a miner.  The couple lived in the coal and ironstone mining villages in the hills near Dalmellington in Ayrshire, Scotland. 

In 1870 their son Robert was born and daughter Jessie was born in 1873. Sadly Jessie died as a young infant; another daughter, also named Jessie, was born in 1875.



In August 1876 the family sailed from Glasgow to Dunedin on the sailing ship Dunedin. The voyage took 83 days. Unfortunately Jessie died of meningitis during the long journey. 

In 1878 the family settled in the South Oamaru area where husband John was employed on the railways. They had five more children: Christina Rachel (1879)
, Esther (1882), Mary Brydone (1883)
, Margaret Finlay (1887)
, and John (1892). 

Initially they lived in Waiareka, then Toka-rahi and Totara (south of Oamaru).  

In 1899 Rachel was employed by the Post Office as postmistress and telephonist at nearby Toka-rahi.

 At a presentation at Totara in April 1908 to farewell the Wright family, the Oamaru Mail reported the following words spoken by John Macpherson (Manager of Totara Estate):


“Speaking of Mrs Wright, words failed him to convey all he should say of the many good qualities of that lady. Were it a time of sickness or trouble, she was ever ready day or night to do what she could for any one in the district, and all were sure of a cheery welcome at her house. Her connection with the post office and telephone bureau at Totara entailed a good deal of worry, but the speaker had to compliment her for the way she had conducted her duties.”



In September 1908 Rachel sold their six-bedroom house at South Oamaru; in October 1908 she and John retired to Christchurch. Rachel died in Christchurch in May 1933.

Panel materials: Lynette supplied cotton quilting fabrics for the background, Joan supplied pieces of lace, beads, fabric flowers (except the pohutukawa), and ribbon. Ben supplied photo fabric for Rachel's photo. Judy supplied embroidery threads, felt, and some cotton fabric. Map fabric was from an old shirt of William's. All materials were supplies we had to hand.

Unique ID number: VRS.2019.177

[suffrageinstitchesnz]

Makers’ names: Cheryl Comfort and Joycelyn Mallinson

Petition sheet number: 1892 petition

Person honouring: Phillipa Jane Terrill and Elizabeth Cantrill

Relationship to makers: Great-great-grandmother and great-grandmother

Phillipa Austin and John Terrill were married in a registry office in Cornwall, England in July 1862. In August of that year they sailed to Lyttelton with John’s mother Jane Terrill. The couple’s first child, Thomas, was born on the ship.

Between 20 and 40 years, Phillipa gave birth to 12 children, three of whom died in infancy.

John deserted Phillipa when she still had young children. The family moved to Napier about 1884 where Phillipa kept a boarding house with her eldest daughter Elizabeth. At that time it appears that divorce was rare, only really available to wealthy folk, so desertion remained just that, with the couple still legally married.

Phillipa sought the right to keep her own money and possessions from her husband and also from his creditors. He had stopped supporting her and she wanted to ensure that he could not claim anything she earned or acquired in the future – any money or property owned by a wife could be claimed if her husband fell into debt. She must have been a mentally strong woman, with records showing that in 1890 an order from the Napier magistrate’s court granted Phillipa Terrill control over her own earnings and any property she had or might acquire.

It is not surprising that Phillipa Terrill and Elizabeth Cantrill were true supporters of women’s rights, and in 1892 they were keen to put their signatures to the Women’s Franchise petition in Napier.

Phillipa died of peritonitis in January 1893, age 50, and so would not live to celebrate New Zealand becoming the first country to give women the vote that same year.

Panel materials: All fabric already owned. The main part is old Obi sash material. It has wonderful rust marks in it and looks very much like the paper in the Te Ara website article about her that we printed to include on the panel.

Unique ID number: VRS.2019.389

[suffrageinstitchesnz]

Maker’s name: Kaz Bartsch

Petition sheet number: Did not sign 1893 petition

Person honouring: Pearl Chaly

Relationship to maker: Mother

Pearl was born in 1928 in Woking just outside London, where her parents ran a grocer’s shop. 

She was a teenager during World War 2 and recalled wearing gumboots in air raid shelter classrooms and dances for soldiers on leave every weekend. She was born with a shortened right hand but nevertheless trained as a shorthand typist. 

Around age 20, Pearl immigrated to Australia as a Ten Pound Pom where she found work as the secretary to the British High Commissioner in Canberra. Later, after travelling extensively, Pearl came to New Zealand and became Judge Pritchard’s Legal Secretary, and later the secretary to the Dean of Law at Auckland University. Pearl’s daughter remembers her as adventurous, brave, stunningly intelligent, and very kind; she carried out a vast correspondence with many people around the world.

Despite Pearl’s beloved brother Terry being shot down over Korea in the Korean War, Pearl’s daughter remembers knitting peggy squares for blankets for Korean orphanages and packaging up toys and coloured pencils for the children. 

Pearl always worked tirelessly to help others and bring people together, teaching English as a second language to new immigrants into her eighties. In the central piece of the panel there is a beautiful stitched tribute to her. Pearl’s daughter says “My mother was not a traditional mother, she was always her own person and I admire her tremendously for the integrity and wit by which she lived her life. She is an inspirational woman to me.”

Panel materials: Cotton sheet provided and embroidery threads from the sewing box. I also incorporated the beautifully stitched central panel from a piece I inherited from Mum – made by a friend of hers as a gift. The blue is from a failed cyanotype but it stands in for the blue aerogrammes she sent flying around the world on an almost daily basis.

Unique ID number: VRS.2019.453

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Maker’s name: Rupini Vengadesan

Petition sheet number: Did not sign 1893 petition

Person honouring: Pappathy

Relationship to maker: Unknown

Panel materials: Unknown

Unique ID number: VRS.2019.330

[suffrageinstitchesnz]

Maker’s name: Chrissie Probett

Petition sheet number: Did not sign 1893 petition

Person honouring: Violet Pearl Martin

Relationship to maker: Grandmother

My creative Grandma, Violet Pearl Martin (born Campbell), lived in Manly on the Hibiscus Coast and was known to bake beautifully decorated cakes, have some wins with her floral art arrangements, and do her knitting, among other pursuits. A visit to Grandma always included a tour of the garden where much was learnt. 

Pearl was born in Coromandel town in 1909, the third child of 10. She left home in her mid-teens and found work in a bakery in Auckland. There she met my grandfather, Cyril Martin. They married and had six children. They lived in Milford while Cyril was working on the police launch Deodar, also in Dargaville, Coromandel, Ellerslie, and Okura – where they lived in a bus that Grandad added a couple of rooms onto. She had to leave the family in the care of Grandad and the older children when her youngest contracted polio and ended up in an iron lung. 

In my memories of Grandma she would invariably be wearing an apron with her hand-knitted cardigan. She was a very economical person who saved buttons from garments when they had worn out, and unpicked lace for reuse, as well as many other tricks that are now coming back into use. This, and the things she did for others in her family and the community, helped shape my panel for her. It showed me that you can be quietly shaping future generations without it necessarily being acknowledged in a big way.

Panel materials: All reused, the pillowcase, the wool – given to me previously unused but from the 1980s, the buttons are reused and from Grandma’s old sewing desk (a converted dressing table) they still had the old threads in them! Lace is also from Grandma’s desk – some previously used and has stitching holes. Fabric on the apron is from the hospice shop, as is the doily/ hanky in the pocket. The wool used to make the felted flowers was leftovers.

Unique ID number: VRS.2019.383

[suffrageinstitchesnz]

Maker’s name: Uputaua Laumatia

Petition sheet number: Did not sign 1893 petition

Person honouring: Toto’a Laumatia

Relationship to maker: Parent

Uputaua Laumatia chose to honour her parents, who are now deceased. Her parents lived in Samoa their whole lives and worked as teachers.

Panel materials: Tapa cloth was added to panel which is used in Samoan culture for ceremonial dress. Pale (beaded headpiece) was also created by the artist. Also used is the coconut necklace which was originally from Samoa. All these pieces are highly respected during ceremonies.

Unique ID number: VRS.2019.240

[suffrageinstitchesnz]

Maker’s name: Caroline O'Reilly

Petition sheet number: 87

Person honouring: Mary Smith and all other woman who meandered country lanes to sign the petition

Relationship to maker: Mary Smith – same name as my mother

Mary Smith, daughter of Ellen McCarty and James Harty, a gardener, was born in  Cobh, County Cork, Ireland about 1853. Aged 18, Mary sailed on the Carnatic to New Zealand, arriving in March 1874 in Port Chalmers. Her occupation was listed as servant.

Mary married Joseph Smith, in February 1875, in Tokomairiro, now Milton.

Mary and Joseph had a small farm in Inch Clutha, South Otago but when flooded out by the 1878 floods moved to Wangaloa where Joseph leased about 50 acres of Education Reserve to farm. He also worked several seams of coal, supplying local farmers with fuel. 

Joseph and Mary had eight children at Wangaloa. In 1893, a Mary Smith of Wangaloa signed the Women's Suffrage Petition. At the time, 15 families were recorded in Wises Directory as living in Wangaloa – only one Smith family. 

Joseph died in December 1912 at Wangaloa. Mary saw at least two of her sons enlist during World War 1; Joseph as part of the American Forces and Peter as part of the New Zealand Expeditionary Forces. Both returned from the war.

Mary died at the home of her daughter, Margaret Brown, in her 83rd year, in February 1936. She and Joseph were buried in Kaitangata.

Biography written by Kaye Foran, Mary Smith’s great-great-granddaughter.

Panel materials: Recycled sheet, net, threads. 

Unique ID number: VRS.2019.305

[suffrageinstitchesnz]

Maker’s name: Emma Lou

Petition sheet number: Did not sign 1893 petition

Person honouring: Theresa

Relationship to maker: Sister

Panel materials: Ink on cloth, yarn, paper.

Unique ID number: VRS.2019.119

[suffrageinstitchesnz]

Maker’s name: Leanne Warnock

Petition sheet number: Did not sign 1893 petition

Person honouring: Sylvia Pack

Relationship to maker: Friend

A friend who has shown kindness to many people, including myself.

Panel materials: Cotton fabric and cotton suitable for hand stitching.

Unique ID number: VRS.2019.271

[suffrageinstitchesnz]

Maker’s name: Heather Richardson

Petition sheet number: Did not sign 1893 petition

Person honouring: Susan Apathy

Relationship to maker: Trusted professional mentor

Susan has had a commitment to education in New Zealand schools since the 1960s. This included a period as Head of English and assistant principal at St Catherine’s College, Wellington. When she finished her teaching she was encouraged to join the New Zealand Catholic Education Office where her skills in publishing and writing, her understanding of the education system, her involvement with the Church, and her ability to work through the details of legislation all contributed to the success of the office in representing Catholic schools.

As Deputy CEO, Susan gave unstintingly of her skills in both the office life and her roles on countless government reviews and committees for 17 years. In her work she wrote submissions to select committees and authored updates to the Handbook for Boards of Trustees. She directed the development of Catholic Special Character Reviews. Alongside that work she became the guiding hand for the triennial Catholic Education Conventions where she carefully worked on the recruitment of the workshop presenters and speakers.

Susan played a key role in updating the language, and protecting the intent, of the 1975 Integration Act when it was reviewed in 2016 – to ensure that the new agreement we have as Part 33 of the Education Amendment Act protects and sustains us into the future. Susan is generous in spirit with everyone she works with. Her relationships with all those involved in national offices and across dioceses is unfailingly positive. Susan is loyal, discreet, and supportive of all those she meets and works with.

Panel materials: Cotton fabric sample swatches, ribbon, and thread from my stash.

Unique ID number: VRS.2019.471

[suffrageinstitchesnz]

Maker’s name: Rose Holmes

Petition sheet number: 386

Person honouring: Shirley Green

Relationship to maker: Nana

Mary McCarroll signed the petition in a bush camp at Mareretu in Northland. Mary was born in Northern Ireland in 1870 and came to New Zealand with her father and her brother Joseph (Willy) on the SS Aorangi in 1884. Her mother Jane and seven other siblings came out the following year. 

Mary’s parents first lived in Auckland and opened a business selling Irish linen goods that the family had brought with them from Belfast. The family then shifted to Kauri Bushland in Northland and initially lived in a bush camp at Mareretu in the Kaipara. Later, Mary married Douglas Hill, and had two children. They lived for some years in Hobsonville, Auckland.

Mary died in 1948.

Panel materials: Fabric, thread, buttons, wool, beads, glue these were all found in mum’s craft room.

Unique ID number: VRS.2019.248

[suffrageinstitchesnz]

Maker’s name: Judith Grey

Petition sheet number: Not found on 1893 petition

Person honouring: Sara Mirfin

Relationship to maker: Great-grandmother

Sara Mirfin was born in 1853 and became a family matriarch. She and her husband William were one of the first farming families in the area between Reefton and Greymouth. They had one daughter and seven sons. 

Four sons went to World War 1 and all returned. Sara’s family was showcased in a set of stamps produced by NZ Post to commemorate the soldiers of World War 1. Sara was a true matriarch of her family and supporter of the community.

Sara died in 1937.

Panel materials: Everything came out of my sewing room apart from the photos, which were professionally done.

Unique ID number: VRS.2019.223

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Maker’s name: Jeanie Randall

Petition sheet number: Did not sign 1893 petition

Person honouring: Rita Jean Berg

Relationship to maker: My mother

Rita Jean Hagger was my mother, a strong woman who made a difference in my life.

Panel materials: Materials I had. Also used my printer for the photos on fabric.

Unique ID number: VRS.2019.273

[suffrageinstitchesnz]

Maker’s name: Irihāpeti Te Aho

Petition sheet number: -

Person honouring: Ngāti Kahungunu Wāhine

Relationship to maker: Ko Ngāti Kahungunu tōku iwi

Panel materials: Whakaranu

Unique ID number: VRS.2019.237

[suffrageinstitchesnz]

Maker’s name: Janet Taiatini

Petition sheet number: Unknown

Person honouring: Ngaronoa Ihakatu

Relationship to maker: Mother’s grandmother

Aratapu, Northland – Maori women's movement to prohibit the use of alcohol. White ribbon significant. 

Panel materials: Canvas and cotton.

Unique ID number: VRS.2019.12