12 May 2025
Happy mothers day everyone, to those beside us and those past. We had a lovely Sunday drive into Mungati. The plan was to find fossils, but the river was high, so we went to Frenchmans Gully public rock art site, and then into Mungati to explore instead. Our wuhoo for the day, was bumping into Lady Fiona Elworthy and having a cuppa in her memorial garden. My grandmother Marianne Remmers used to be friends with lady Fiona, so I've known her for a long time, and witnessed some of her enormous legacy in our community. She's a special person, and I admire her a lot.
I have to laugh, for some reason, when she pops in, it's when our house is upside down, one time our lounge was full of an epic clotheshorse blanket fort and we had to sit outside... Fiona always takes us as we are.
She championed a special sculpture, and I enjoyed showing it to our girls, explaining the work women did while the men went to war.
Nice to a have a memorial to prompt this conversation and remember these special women. It's so beautiful out there, and peaceful. We've had a lovely adventure today.
Here's some info about the sculpture...
The Maungati memorial, located on the Rongomaraeroa Peace Walk in South Canterbury, honours the vital contributions of New Zealand's Women's Land Service (WLS) during World War II. Established in 1940, the WLS enlisted over 2,700 women, known as 'land girls', who took on demanding agricultural work to sustain the nation's food production while many men served overseas .
Despite their significant efforts, these women received little recognition post-war.
The WLS was disbanded in 1946, and its members were excluded from victory parades and denied official veteran status. It wasn't until 2002 that surviving land girls were awarded small badges and certificates, leaving many feeling their service had been overlooked.
The Maungati memorial, featuring a bronze sculpture by artist Margriet Windhausen, was unveiled in October 2022 through the efforts of former land girl Sadie Lietze and Lady Fiona Elworthy of Timaru.
Situated among native plantings and cherry trees, the memorial serves as a lasting tribute to the resilience and dedication of these women, ensuring their legacy is remembered for generations to come.