David Ayers' Weblog

Thanks to Lois McGirr of Amberley, a series of women’s suffrage commemorations were held in Amberley, Rangiora, Kaiapoi and Woodend on 19 September, the 120th anniversary of the passage of the Act that gave New Zealand women the vote.

Speakers paid tribute to the work of local North Canterbury women who fought for the vote and the role played by the Women’s Christian Temperance movement.  They also rolled out a long purple ribbon that many locals had signed, the ribbon being the same length as the petition that Sir John Hall took into Parliament in 1893 in support of women’s suffrage. The photo shows the ribbon being signed by Maxine Palmer of Rangiora.

A local historical footnote: New Zealand’s first woman MP, Elizabeth McCombs, was born in Kaiapoi.

Tags: Amberley New Zealand, Community, Kaiapoi New Zealand, North Canterbury, Rangiora New Zealand, Waimakariri District, Women's Suffrage, Woodend New Zealand

This entry was posted on 30 September 2013 at 7:22 am and is filed under Historic Waimakariri, Kaiapoi, Rangiora, Waimakariri District, Woodend. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.