Names roll in for Nelson suffrage photos
Just one photo remains in a quest to identify mystery photos taken during Nelson suffrage celebrations 25 years ago.
Former Nelson deputy mayor Gail Collingwood has about 700 photos taken during a series of 1993 centennial suffrage events in Nelson, and has been working to identify women in the images.
A recent Nelson Leader article helped solve the mystery, at least in part, with just one photo remaining.
‘‘The only one not named is the MMP lady,’’ Collingwood said.
In the mystery image, a woman is seen handing out pamphlets from behind a Campaign for Better Government stall, ahead of the 1993 electoral reform.
‘‘We had a vote to say whether we wanted MMP or first past the post, and women set up stalls,’’ Collingwood said.
Collingwood said she has circulated the image through political circles in Nelson.
‘‘I’ve cropped it and enlarged it, and have gone back to people who have been involved with the National, Labour, and Green parties over the years and were involved at that time, but nobody has come up with anything.’’
She hopes her ‘‘last-ditch attempt’’ to name the mystery woman will have a happy ending, but said it had already been a rewarding experience, and the recent newspaper publicity had provided plenty of assistance.
‘‘The power of print shouldn’t be knocked about in this day and age, because nobody has said they saw [the photos] anywhere else,’’ she said.
‘‘Those women were named before 5pm on the day the paper came out.’’
She said seven women had been named, from the four published photos, and those who had been in touch had also helped Collingwood track down names for other photos.
A photo showing two women from the former Women’s Division of Federated Farmers had prompted the most response.
Three generations related to ‘‘the woman in blue’’ had been in touch, including the pictured woman herself, Dawn Neal.
‘‘She was with Women’s Division of Federated Farmers, which is now Rural Women, and I sent her two of the other photos I had from the Women’s Division and she came back yesterday and has named all of them except one, so she was a brilliant contact.’’
Another photo showed a ‘‘smiley’’ grey-haired lady, selling raffles on behalf of the former Pan-Pacific and Southeast Asia Women’s Association in Nelson.
‘‘She is Lilian Lyth, who I’d thought it was, and I had it confirmed by her daughter in Auckland after someone in Nelson alerted her to it.’’
Lyth had died in 1994, the year after the suffrage celebrations, had an MBE for services to the community and had been involved with resettling refugees in Nelson, Collingwood was told.
Collingwood plans to give the named photos to the Nelson Provincial Museum, to mark the 125th anniversary of women’s suffrage in New Zealand.
It had been a ‘‘rewarding’’ experience for Collingwood, who’d found it ‘‘quite exciting’’ as the pieces of the puzzle came together.