Puketapapa Women's Suffrage Memorial

Photo credit - Sgroey

On the corner of Wahine Toa Park (in Māori contexts: a female warrior) in the Three Kings suburb of Auckland stands a powerful sculpture commemorating the courageous and lesser-known local women who campaigned for women’s suffrage in the late 19th century.

The striking memorial, commissioned by the Puketāpapa Local Board and Auckland Council, was designed by artists Matthew van Sturmer and Carmen Sosich. It takes the abstract form of a camellia flower, an iconic symbol adopted by the New Zealand suffrage movement in its early beginning. VOTE FOR WOMEN, JUSTICE, COURAGE, HI WAHINE Toa, and STRENGTH are among the words carved into the sculpture.

Inscribed on the sculpture’s base are the names of around 30 local Mt Roskill women who boldly added their signatures to the historic 1893 petition demanding the vote for women.

A nearby plaque displays the names of subsequent generations of Mt Roskill women who built upon that legacy and served their community in local and national government, including former Prime Minister Helen Clark.

The project was funded through the local board’s discretionary budget. Over 50 community members gathered for the recent unveiling ceremony on September 19th, 2013, commemorating the 120th anniversary of women gaining the vote in New Zealand.

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537 Mount Albert Road, Three Kings, Auckland 1042, New Zealand

 

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