Over the teacups to mark suffrage

High tea with the mayor — Tararua Over The Teacups — was the fruition of a brainstorming session between the three female councillors and mayor of Tararua District Council to celebrate the 125th anniversary of women’s suffrage in New Zealand.

They included mayor Tracey Collis and councillors Alison Franklin, Shirley Hull and Carol Isaacson, who invited people to join them at local libraries early last week.

The event acknowledged the signatories of the suffrage petitions and the Suffragists who fought to give women the vote.

“With china teacups, teastands and nice little morsels to eat, we thought the older generation would enjoy that,” said councillor Franklin.

“It worked brilliantly — all four of the events. We were so overwhelmed, we were really pleased. You don’t know how many people are going to turn up. Catering worked out perfectly. There was a good cross-section of people, with two men turning up at Woodville.

“A lot of people shared experiences of how they felt about it and how their families reacted to voting. It was really awesome. Rebecca Mahoney came to the Pahiatua meeting and shared how she set the benchmark for women in rugby. It was lovely having her there, as she is so humble. She told of how special it felt being the first female referee in the New Zealand to control a senior men’s first class rugby match. As far as we are concerned she goes down in history.”

“A school children’s poster competition was organised with entries being put up through all the libraries in the Tararua so people could see the artwork,” said councillor Franklin. “There was a poster by a child from Norsewood School. She had Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern in the foreground pushing her baby girl Neve in the pushchair. That was really well done. It was scanned and sent to the Prime Minister’s secretary. Then the Prime Minister put it on instagram last Wednesday. That was the icing on the cake for all of us. We had to buy extra prizes because the children did so well,”

One woman in Woodville is a direct descendant of Fletcher Christian. She talked about Pitcairn Island and how women had always voted because there were more women than men.

Maureen Reynolds was the first female mayor of the Tararua District.

Tararua district mayor Tracey Collis at the head of the table with councillor Alison Franklin in the foreground, hosting a high tea in Pahiatua to celebrate the 125th anniversary of women’s suffrage in New Zealand.

Rebecca Mahoney wearing an unique purple uniform to celebrate women’s suffrage during the first senior first class rugby match controlled by a woman referee in New Zealand on Saturday September 15.