Exhibition for extraordinary women
When Mary Woodward was 21 she was named Miss New Zealand and travelled Europe speaking to different groups of people multiple times a day.
Now, nearly 70 years on, Woodward is being recognised as one of 11 extraordinary Taranaki women. Woodward, now 90, is part of the Hina: Celebrating Taranaki Women exhibition, which opened at New Plymouth’s Puke Ariki yesterday.
The exhibition, which was curated by the museum’s four female heritage curators, commemorates the 125th anniversary of women’s suffrage.
On September 19, 1893, New Zealand became the first country in the world to allow all women to vote in parliamentary elections.
‘‘I don’t have anything to do with women’s suffrage, it all happened even before I was born, which is 90 years ago,’’ Woodward said.
‘‘But I feel I’m a significant women – even to have lasted this long in this world.’’
Woodward, who now lives in Auckland, grew up in Taranaki and entered Miss New Plymouth and Miss New Zealand by accident.
She was a university student and saw there was prize money up for grabs at a local event – little did she know it was prize money that had to be used to enter Miss New Plymouth, which then took her to Miss New Zealand.
To the then 21-year-old’s surprise she won the national event in 1949, which took her to Europe where she featured at many events and came home with confidence she still holds today.
However, Woodward was still ‘‘surprised’’ to have been selected as a figure in the exhibition.
Among the other 10 women in the exhibition are New Plymouth surfer Paige Hareb and Te Reo Ma¯ori champion Hana Te Hemara.
The exhibition, which is in the Lane Gallery, has a range of donated artefacts including Hareb’s surfboard, a kete from Puke Ariki’s taonga Ma¯ori collection and a piece from Woodward’s Miss New Zealand history.
‘‘I had a gorgeous satin evening gown which I gave the museum with the fur and the gloves and evidently that’s going to be there,’’ Woodward said.