Celebrating Suffrage Day
November-flowering red rata perfect reminder of 1893 general election anniversary
Yesterday people gathered across New Zealand to celebrate being the first country in the world to give women the vote 125 years ago. To mark the occasion, Hastings’ first female mayor and descendants of some of those 19th century suffragists gathered to plant a rata tree on Hastings District Council grounds.
The tree will serve as a reminder of the 70 Hastings women who signed the petition that helped to spur landmark law.
Mayor Sandra Hazlehurst said she was incredibly proud to be celebrating 125 years of women’s suffrage.
“It’s an incredible journey that our women have been on, for the last 125 years.”
It was fitting for Hazlehurst to be mayor during the anniversary — she is the first female mayor of Hastings.
“Hastings was ready for a female mayor, and I’m incredibly proud to be our mayor,” she said.
“It’s all about stepping up and empowering our young people to coming through to take every opportunity.”
The family of one of the women who signed the petition, Margaret Sowersby, were there yesterday, including her grandson and her great-greatgreat-granddaughters . Her grandson, Robert Sowersby, said he was very proud of his grandmother, but thought she would be a bit disappointed about the progress women had made since 1893.
“I just think she would have thought we would have come a bit further,” Sowersby said.
His daughter, and Margaret’s greatgranddaughter, Jane O’Kane, said she was too young to have met Margaret, but thought she would be proud of the generations of women who followed her.
“I think our family has been a family of very strong women.”
New Zealand’s electoral act, which gave women the right to vote, was passed on September 19, 1893.
Ten weeks later, on the November 28, women voted for the first time.
A rata tree was chosen for the Hastings landmark because rata flower red in November, which means each year the tree will flower for the anniversary of the 1893 general election.