Women of Ōtaki: Photographs 1860s–1970s

Historical photographs of Ōtaki women selected from the Ōtaki Historical Society’s Women’s Suffrage exhibition, 1995.

These photographs offer us a glimpse of the social fabric of Ōtaki over the course of a hundred years. They depict women from the Māori, Pākehā and Chinese communities in Ōtaki and were selected from a larger exhibition at Raukawa Marae organised by the Ōtaki Historical Society in 1992 to mark the centennial of Women’s Suffrage.

The women are from all walks of life—farmers, doctors, weavers, nurses, composers, orators, midwives, teachers, missionaries, businesswomen and community leaders. In addition they were the mothers of often large families.

Two petitions supporting female franchise in New Zealand were held in 1892 and 1893. Some Ōtaki women signed the petition, and many others were registered to vote on the electoral roll of 1893. Māori women could choose to vote on the general roll or on the Māori roll.

Our thanks to Ōtaki Heritage for the loan of these photographs for the exhibition.