Temperance Women, a Swirl of Tea Instead of a Glass of Brew at the Seafarer's Rest

By Roselyn Fauth

When I read through stories about the past, they seem to have a common thread… booze. Here in Timaru, pubs used to be as common as corner dairies. By the late 1800s, drunkenness was not just part of life. It was normal. For a lot of women, alcohol was not simply a nuisance. It meant empty cupboards, black eyes, and worn-out hope. Hard-earned wages slipped from the family table to the bottom of a pint glass. They tried to fix it. In 1917, the law said pubs had to close by six o’clock. The idea was to cut down drinking. But instead, it created the six o’clock swirl. Men would knock off work and head straight to the pub. Between five and six, the bars packed in. No time to talk. Just drink fast and head home unsteady...

Consumption of booze was not a new problem. Back in England, even during Tudor times, drinking alcohol was simply part of life. Water was often contaminated with sewage and considered unsafe. So everyone drank ale. Even children.  

That ale was not like the beer we know today. It was usually brewed without hops, so it was not particularly alcoholic. More of a hearty, fermented drink seen to keep people healthy. Bread and ale were the fuel of working families. By the time people were immigrating from the UK to NZ, a loaf of bread could cost half of someones weekly wage.

It was the wealthy who usually drank wine. Under Henry the Seventh, French wines became more common. Only the aristocracy could afford them. So while the rich sipped imported claret, the everyday worker stuck to ale with their bread and stew.

When settlers came to New Zealand, they brought that long-standing drinking culture with them. But by the 1880s, it was causing serious harm in homes across the country. In 1839 there were only about 2,000 immigrants in New Zealand; by 1852 there were about 28,000. Heavy drinking was normalized among working-class men and the pubs were community hubs. Taverns were among the first European buildings established in settlements, and we saw that here in Timaru when Samuel Williams was the first official publican licence holder in the area, serving a brew or spirit from his George Street cottage as early as 1856.

I was told by someone that her father used to excuse himself by saying, "I’ve got to see a man about a dog," and slip away to the pub. For her, it meant being parked in front of the television while he went off for a drink. Phrases like this were widely used to soften or obscure the act of drinking. People spoke of “wetting their whistle,” “taking a nip,” or “having a tipple,” while heavier drinking was described as “hitting the bottle” or being “on the grog.” A big night out might be “painting the town red,” and drunkenness became “three sheets to the wind” or “lit up like a Christmas tree.” In contrast, temperance advocates used serious moral language, calling alcohol “the demon drink” or “the poisoned cup.” These different ways of speaking reveal the deep cultural divide around alcohol use at the time.

Photograph of Flockton Well near the corner of George St and the Great North Road (Stafford St) 1868. The original wooden Bank of New Zealand building is visible on the corner (centre of image), with Clarkson and Turnbull across the road (left of centre) and the Club Hotel and Flockton Well in the foreground at the left-hand side of the image. There is a man standing on the well and two boys in front of it. - nzmuseums.co.nz/3359/flockton-well-corner-of-george-st-and-the-great-north-road South Canterbury Museum

Women’s Christian Temperance Union (WCTU) New Zealand: Founded 1885, Led Women’s Fight for Temperance and the Vote

The Women's Christian Temperance Union of New Zealand was founded in 1885 after the visit of American missionary Mary Leavitt. It became the first national women’s organisation in the country. Guided by Christian values, its focus was on temperance, the abolition of alcohol and drugs, and social reform. Early leaders such as Anne Ward and Kate Sheppard helped the movement grow quickly. The WCTU supported women’s suffrage, with Kate Sheppard playing a major role in New Zealand becoming the first country to give women the vote in 1893. The group also worked on issues such as prison reform, education, and women's rights, and remained active in national social campaigns well into the 1900s.

Kate Sheppard on New Zealand 10 note who helped nz women gain the vote in 1893, New Zealand became the first country in the world to give women the right to vote. Kate Sheppard has featured on the $10 note since 1993, which marked 100 years since the bill was passed. She was a founding member of the Womens Christian Temperance Union in NZ. Through distributing pamphlets, organising meetings, writing letters to newspapers and extensive public speaking, she effectively led the fight for women's suffrage. In the left background of the note is a white camellia. These flowers were given to members of Parliament who supported the suffrage bill, and have subsequently become a symbol of the fight for women's suffrage. In the the garden by the South Canterbury Museum on Perth Street is a memorial to Sheppard which includes white camellias.

W.C.T.U. Timaru Photograph Album (1936–1990). This original red-covered album documents over five decades of the Women’s Christian Temperance Union’s activities in Timaru. It features photographs and clippings from national and district conventions, the opening and life of the Sailor’s Rest at Timaru Harbour, and major milestones including the branch’s 70th, 90th, and 100th anniversaries. Also recorded are local honours, long-service awards, and the publication of A Challenge Not a Truce.
Catalogue No. 2009/055.02 | Album size: 505 x 335 mm | Timaru, NZ. Womens Christian Temperance Union albulm 1936 to 1990 - South Canterbury Musuem - 200905502-16

W.C.T.U. Timaru Photograph Album (1936–1990). This original red-covered album documents over five decades of the Women’s Christian Temperance Union’s activities in Timaru. It features photographs and clippings from national and district conventions, the opening and life of the Sailor’s Rest at Timaru Harbour, and major milestones including the branch’s 70th, 90th, and 100th anniversaries. Also recorded are local honours, long-service awards, and the publication of A Challenge Not a Truce.
Catalogue No. 2009/055.02 | Album size: 505 x 335 mm | Timaru, NZ. Womens Christian Temperance Union albulm 1936 to 1990 - South Canterbury Musuem - 200905502-16

Mrs J. A. Norrie (President of the W.C.T.U.): “The erection of the Rest had long been their prayer and their dream. It was a home for the men who kept the country going, and the men whom they adored... .They were sometimes told by seamen that nobody cared what happened to them but the W.C.T.U... . Their services were for God, home and country. There had been years of prayers, and dreaming, and now their dreams had come true. They thanked God for their new home, wherein they could help the seamen and try to keep them on the right path.”

Timaru, 1875, Dunedin, by Burton Brothers, Alfred Burton. Te Papa (C.014371)

WCTU pushed back against alcohol abuse, especially from women’s groups and churches.

The Timaru branch of the Women’s Christian Temperance Union (WCTU) started in 1889. These women were not just worried about alcohol. They also stood up for women’s right to vote, helped struggling families, supported children and prisoners, and tried to build safer communities. They held prayer meetings, gave talks, handed out leaflets, and wrote letters to the local paper.

One woman wrote: “Drink has stolen my husband, but the law still calls him mine.” That line hits hard. Divorce was rare and came with shame. Women had few legal protections. Often, the only option was to try and fix society itself.

What stood out to me was how ordinary these women were. They were not wealthy or famous. Just determined. Practical. Hopeful. I thought about my own great-grandmother. Did she sign a pledge? Speak up at a church meeting? Check on her neighbour after a rough night?

Another woman once said: “We are not seeking to rule over men, but to stop them from ruling over us while in a state of intoxication.” That was from a WCTU leader in Christchurch. I imagine women in Timaru felt the same.

New Zealand nearly voted in favour of nationwide prohibition multiple times, coming within 1% of banning alcohol entirely in 1919. The movement left a legacy of regulatory tension, including restrictions that paradoxically encouraged bingeing.

Delegates attending the W.C.T.U. convention at Timaru. March 1918. A group portrait of the delegates at the Women's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU) convention at Timaru in March 1918. Pictures about 80 or so women with WCTU banners posed in several rows on a grass lawn in front of trees obscuring a two-storied house. South Canterbury Museum Catalogue Number2013/080.06

“The Rest was a monument to the generosity of the people of South Canterbury and to the devotion and self-sacrifice of those splendid men and women who had laboured so hard to erect it.” - Mr Rolleston, M.P.

Timaru Harbour Board, Floor plan of Sailors' Rest, drawn by W Panton, dated July 1966. South Canterbury Museum Catalogue Number2017/135.0456

A Safe Place by the Sea

In 1895, the WCTU opened Timaru’s first Sailors’ Rest. It was a calm place for visiting seamen to get a cup of tea, rest, read, or write a letter home. No alcohol. Just peace and a bit of kindness.

By 1924, they opened a new building at 19 Ritchie Street, officially opened by Governor-General Viscount Jellicoe. The land was gifted by the Harbour Board. The architects offered their work for free. The Borough Council pitched in one hundred pounds. It was a community effort built with care.

From around 1918 to 1950, Mary Bray Woodward ran the Sailors’ Rest. The sailors called her “Mum”. She gave them Sunday gatherings, warm drinks, and a gentle nudge toward better choices. When she died, her funeral was held at the Rest itself. That says everything.

I only found out about her recently, through a bit of reading and poking around in old records. She was not someone I had ever heard mentioned. But the more I read, the more I admired her.

I visited the building not long ago. It had been there all my life, and I never knew the story. It has since been pulled down. It was considered too far gone to save. Another piece of quiet women’s work lost from sight.

Timaru's Haven For World Seamen (12 Oct 1974). Aoraki Heritage Collection, accessed 18/06/2025, https://aorakiheritage.recollect.co.nz/nodes/view/7314

OPENING OF TIMARU SAILORS’ REST.  White Ribbon, Volume 30, Issue 353, 18 December 1924, Page 4 https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/periodicals/WHIRIB19241218.2.4

“On the Sailors’ Rest Committee they had both heroines and heroes... He thanked the architects... for their services rendered free of charge...” - Mr Andrew Wilson (Chair, Sailors’ Rest Committee)

Mr Andrew Wilson, Chair of the Timaru Sailors’ Rest Committee in the early 1920s, was a key figure in the establishment of the new Sailors’ Rest opened by Viscount Jellicoe. Deeply committed to the welfare of seafarers and aligned with the values of the Women’s Christian Temperance Union (W.C.T.U.), Wilson helped lead the community-driven fundraising and construction effort, celebrating the project's completion as a testament to faith, patriotism, and public generosity. His speech at the opening ceremony reflected strong Christian and temperance ideals, expressing gratitude to all contributors and pride in the Rest as a moral and welcoming home for sailors. While little is known about his broader biography, Wilson was evidently a respected civic leader in Timaru, closely connected to religious and social reform circles. - Sailors' Rest marks Golden Jubilee (18 Oct 1974). Aoraki Heritage Collection, accessed 18/06/2025, https://aorakiheritage.recollect.co.nz/nodes/view/7301

Mrs Margaret Norrie (née McCullough), born in 1862 in Liverpool, was a cornerstone of the Timaru community and a driving force in the Women’s Christian Temperance Union (W.C.T.U.). She settled in Timaru after emigrating to New Zealand aboard the SS Westland in 1880, marrying William McKechnie Norrie in 1884. For over seven decades, she was deeply involved in Trinity Church and became president of the local W.C.T.U. branch from 1918 to 1933, leading initiatives like temperance education and social welfare.

Her most notable achievement was pioneering and overseeing the establishment of the Timaru Sailors’ Rest, opened in 1924 with Governor-General Viscount Jellicoe, to provide a welcoming and supportive home for merchant seamen. Under her active leadership, the Sailors’ Rest became a hub of hospitality, spiritual care, and social services. She remained involved in its operations well into the 1940s. She stepped down from seamen’s welfare work in 1943 at the age of 81 and passed away in January 1953, aged 91, remembered as "a remarkable woman… the moving spirit behind many activities for the public good." nzhistory.govt.nz/suffragist/mrs-margaret-norrie

W.C.T.U. Timaru Photograph Album (1936–1990). Newspaper clipping on the Woodward Families 48 years of involvement. Timaru, NZ. Womens Christian Temperance Union albulm 1936 to 1990 - South Canterbury Musuem - 200905502-16. Read the article here: Woodward Family 48 Years At Sailors Rest, True Friends of all Seamen (25 Jun 1966). Aoraki Heritage Collection, accessed 18/06/2025, https://aorakiheritage.recollect.co.nz/nodes/view/7311

Mr W R Woodward and his daughter Miss Noela Woodward with Cockie the 69-year-old sulplmr crested cockatoo which has lived with them for over 20 years - Aoraki Heritage Collection 00001-35-66

Mary Bray Woodward was appointed joint caretaker of the Sailors’ Rest in Timaru alongside her husband, W. R. Woodward, around 1918. She remained in the role until her death in Timaru in 1950, aged 65, and became affectionately known as “Mum” to many visiting seamen. Mary was remembered for her motherly care, quiet strength, and the warmth she brought to the mission, often nursing ill sailors in her own quarters and even cooking for entire ship crews in need. The family also cared for a long-lived sulphur-crested cockatoo, “Cockie,” who lived with them for over 20 years and became part of the Rest’s extended family. At the Golden Jubilee of the 1924 building, the Women’s Christian Temperance Union honoured Mary’s memory, describing her as having made “an indelible mark” and a “great contribution” to the cause. Her husband continued as caretaker until 1966, with their daughter Miss Noela Woodward assisting and living on site... she knew no other home until then. Together, the Woodwards created a legacy of welcome, kindness, and quiet heroism at the heart of the Timaru waterfront, turning the Sailors’ Rest into a true home away from home for thousands of seafarers from around the world.

Cocky the Cockatoo was a much-loved sulphur-crested bird residing at the Sailors’ Rest alongside the Woodward family for over 20 years. He greeted every visiting sailor with cheerful squawks and comments on the weather, adding to the homely atmosphere. Even American seamen offered to buy him, but the Woodwards cherished him too much to part with . In 1945, at 46 years old, “Cocky” was noted for welcoming mariners personally and in 1939 he sat outside the door, entertaining and greeting each arrival. Far more than a pet, he became an integral part of the Rest’s extended family and a symbol of the warm reception the Woodwards provided.

I have been told that Cocky used to live at the Domion Hotel up on the cliff. He had been taught so many swear words by all the travelling seamen that women used to cover their childrens ears when they walked past. I guess after a few complaints the bird shifted house from the Dominion to the Rest!

Ethel Lucy Duckett (née Buckingham) was born on May 29, 1892, in Tasmania and moved to New Zealand as a child with her parents, Lieutenant and Mrs. David Buckingham of the Salvation Army. Settling in Waimate, she became a lifelong and active member of the Salvation Army, serving as Home League Secretary for 16 years, Recruiting Sergeant, and Young People’s Sergeant Major. She represented the Home League on the National Council of Women and regularly visited hospitals and homes to support the sick. A dedicated member of the Women’s Christian Temperance Union, she held every office in the Waimate branch and was honoured as Patroness at its 50th Jubilee. She also contributed to the Orange Lodge, Red Cross, and Friends of the Hospital. Although she had no biological children, she and her husband Will Duckett fostered 17 children. Mrs. Duckett died at Jubilee Home in Christchurch, and her funeral was held at the Salvation Army Citadel in Waimate. - Obituary: Mrs E L Duckett, Salvationist identity dies (21 Oct 1977). Aoraki Heritage Collection, accessed 18/06/2025, https://aorakiheritage.recollect.co.nz/nodes/view/2822

Gertrude Ada Keen passed away in Blenheim on July 2, 1986, at the age of 93. Originally from England, she immigrated to New Zealand with her husband shortly after the First World War and settled in Waimate. Widowed in 1944, she remained actively involved in her community for many decades. A former schoolteacher, she maintained a strong interest in the welfare of young people, serving as a Sunday School teacher and Bible Class leader at St Paul’s Methodist Church. She was a committed member of the Ladies’ Guild, Women’s Missionary Auxiliary, and the local Women’s Christian Temperance Union. She also represented the Waimate branch on the National Council of Women and was an active member of Toc H. In 1972, Mrs Keen relocated to be closer to family, though she deeply missed her Waimate community. Remembered as a kind, gentle, and caring person, she continued to inspire those around her with her quiet service. Her funeral was held at the Wesley Centre in Blenheim, followed by a graveside committal in Waimate on July 4. She is survived by her son Len Keen, daughter Daphne Brown, and six grandchildren. - Obituary: Mrs Gertrude A Keen (09 July 1986). Aoraki Heritage Collection, accessed 18/06/2025, https://aorakiheritage.recollect.co.nz/nodes/view/3135

Margaret Holdgate passed away in Timaru at the age of 94, having been a long-standing and well-respected member of the community. Born in Sawyer’s Bay, Dunedin, she moved to Timaru after marrying Cecil J. Holdgate at First Church, Dunedin, in 1911. The couple celebrated their 65th wedding anniversary before Mr. Holdgate’s death in August of the previous year. In her earlier years, Mrs. Holdgate was actively involved in several civic and church organisations. She served on the committees of the Plunket Society and the Women’s Christian Temperance Union, and held the role of missionary secretary at the Banks Street Methodist Church. She was also a founder and first secretary of the West School Ladies’ Guild, which was formed in her Otipua Road home in 1920 and went on to raise funds for the school for 50 years. At the guild’s golden jubilee in 1970, she was its only surviving founding member. Mrs. Holdgate is survived by two daughters, Mrs. M. Hood of Dunedin and Mrs. H. Davies of Timaru, along with 12 grandchildren and 25 great-grandchildren. - Obituary: Mrs M Holdgate (13 Oct 1977). Aoraki Heritage Collection, accessed 18/06/2025, https://aorakiheritage.recollect.co.nz/nodes/view/2836

Jessie Mackay (1864–1938) was a pioneering New Zealand poet, teacher, journalist, and social reformer. Born at Double Hill in the Rakaia Gorge to Scottish parents, she became known as New Zealand’s first poetess, a title used in her time to recognise women poets, though the term is now largely outdated and replaced by the gender-neutral “poet.” In 1887, she taught at the small Kakahu School in South Canterbury, riding her horse Ned from Raincliff to the rural classroom that is now the Kakahu Hall. Mackay was a passionate advocate for women’s rights, working alongside Kate Sheppard, and contributed regularly to the Canterbury Times and Otago Daily Times. She was also a dedicated supporter of the Women’s Christian Temperance Union and the broader temperance movement, speaking and writing publicly about the social harms of alcohol and advocating for prohibition and women's protection. Her poetry blended themes of Māori mythology, Scottish heritage, rural life, and social justice, earning her widespread acclaim. In 1997, five local women — Jean Goodwin, Brenda Lyon, Margaret Chapman, Pauline O’Leary, and Ginny Talbot — co-authored A Woman Before Her Time, a book honouring her legacy. Her story attracted international attention, including a BBC Scotland documentary exploring the global impact of Scots abroad. The Kakahu community preserves her memory with a silver plaque in the former schoolhouse that reads: Jessie Mackay, 1864–1938, First New Zealand Poetess. - Te Ara – The Encyclopedia of New Zealand, "Jessie Mackay." by Dot Neill 22 Oct 2014.

The six o’clock closing law stayed in place until 1967. Fifty years of rushing to drink and staggering home. The Sailors’ Rest is no longer run by the WCTU. But the story behind it remains. A reminder of what a group of determined women can do with little more than conviction and care.

What would you have done in their place? Spoken at a council meeting? Welcomed strangers in for tea? Or stitched linen for bunks and hoped it helped?

What stories are hiding in your own family albums? A grandmother who helped others quietly? An auntie who knew how to keep things together when everything else was falling apart?

Next time you pass Ritchie Street, pause near where number nineteen once stood. If you close your eyes, you might hear the clink of china, the creak of stairs, and the quiet courage of women who made space for others when no one else would.

Since the 1980s, the legal drinking age dropped to 18 in 1999. RTDs (ready-to-drink mixes) became popular with young people. Drinking has been increasingly tied to youth culture, music festivals, and socializing. At the same time, health campaigns and Māori-led initiatives have pushed for more responsible drinking. 

Today’s drinking culture is a complex mix. Binge drinking remains a public health concern, especially among youth and rural men. There's also a growing appreciation for craft beer, wine (especially in regions like Marlborough), and sober social movements (e.g., Sober October, Dry July).

So what started out as a mission to learn about the seafearers building, turned out to be a lesson in where New Zealand's drinking culture was born. Those British colonial habits were amplified by policies like the 6 o’clock swill, challenged by moral reformers, and now evolving through both harm reduction strategies and a rise in boutique alcohol industries. It’s a story of social identity, colonial hangovers, and slow cultural shifts.

I remember dinner table conversations when supermarkets were pushing for the right to sell liquor. The concern was by making alchol easier to access we may see a decline back to the swill of a glass binge drinking days. At the time a bottle of booze could only be bought at the liquor store.

Supermarkets in New Zealand have been permitted to sell wine since 1990. In 1999, legislative changes allowed them to sell beer as well. These changes were part of broader reforms under the Sale of Liquor Act 1989, which also permitted alcohol sales on Sundays for the first time in nearly 120 years. supermarkets are restricted to selling beverages with an alcohol content of no more than 15% by volume. This includes beer, wine, cider, and mead. Spirits and spirit-based drinks are excluded and must be purchased from separate liquor stores.

Alcohol use in New Zealand

• 4 in 5 adults (79%) consumed alcohol in the past year (2017/18 data). Alcohol consumption is highest in men (83%), those identifying as European/Other (85%) or Māori (80%), and people living in the least deprived neighbourhoods (86%).
• 1 in 4 (25%) past-year drinkers have drunk hazardously in a way that can harm themselves or others.
• When looking further into hazardous drinking:
  • Men are twice as likely as women to be hazardous drinkers
  • 1 in 2 Māori men who drink and 1 in 3 Māori women who drink are hazardous drinkers
  • 2 in 5 young adults drink hazardously
  • Pasifika and Asian men and women are the least likely to drink alcohol but hazardous drinking is high among Pasifika who do drink
• 1 in 4 women and 1 in 6 men did not consume alcohol in the past year (2017/18). Asian (44%) and Pacific (46%) adults are more likely to be non-drinkers, along with 15-17 year-olds and people 75 years and over. One-third of adults living in the most deprived neighbourhoods are non-drinkers.

Source: New Zealand Health Survey 2017/18.

Harms from drinking alcohol

• In 2007, around 800 deaths of New Zealanders aged 0-79 years were attributable to alcohol, representing 5.4% of all deaths under 80 years old.
• 43% of all deaths attributed to alcohol are due to injuries, 30% to cancer and 27% to a variety of other chronic diseases
• Over twice as many deaths are seen in men as women – 23 deaths per 100,000 for men compared to 10 deaths per 100,000 for women.
• The death rate for Māori is disproportionately higher – 34 deaths per 100,000 for Māori compared to 14 deaths per 100,000 for non-Māori.
• Alcohol is known to be a factor in 1 in 5 fatal crashes between 2015 and 2017. It is also a factor in 15% of serious injury crashes and 10% of minor injury crashes.
• 2 in 5 violent interpersonal offences in 2014 are known to involve alcohol with either the offender, the victim or both drinking at the time of the offence. Women (30%) are less likely than men (51%) to be the victim where they and/or the offender had been drinking. Alcohol is also involved in 1 in every 3 family violence incidents in 2018.

Sources

1. World Health Organization (n.d.). Alcohol.
2. Connor, J.,Kydd,R.,Shield,K.,& Rehm, J. (2013). Alcohol-attributable burden of disease and injury in New Zealand: 2004 and 2007. Research report commissioned by the Health Promotion Agency. Wellington: Health Promotion Agency.
3. Ministry of Transport. 2015-17 administrative data.
4. Ministry of Justice (n.d.). New Zealand Crime and Safety Survey 2014 - Involvement of alcohol in violent interpersonal offences.
5. Ministry of Justice (n.d). New Zealand Crime and Victims Survey 2018 - Selected drivers of family violence.

What would you have done in their place? Spoken at a council meeting? Welcomed strangers in for tea? Or stitched linen for bunks and hoped it helped?

What stories are hiding in your own family albums? A grandmother who helped others quietly? An auntie who knew how to keep things together when everything else was falling apart?

Next time you pass Ritchie Street, pause near where number nineteen once stood. If you close your eyes, you might hear the clink of china, the creak of stairs, and the quiet courage of women who made space for others when no one else would.

A group portrait of attendees at the Women's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU) convention at Timaru in 1930. Pictures about a hundred or women (and a couple of men) with WCTU banners posed in several rows in front of a brick building. The print mount bears a label reading "Timaru. 1930". The verso also bears a pencil notation reading "Timaru convention 1930. See WR April 1930". South Canterbury Museum 2013/080.05

Leaders of the Temperance Movement in New Zealand

Kate Sheppard. Although best known as the face of New Zealand’s women’s suffrage movement, Kate Sheppard was also a dedicated member of the Women’s Christian Temperance Union (WCTU). She edited The White Ribbon and believed strongly in the link between temperance and women’s rights. She famously argued that women needed the vote to protect their homes from the impact of alcohol.

Anne Ward. New Zealand’s first national president of the WCTU, elected in 1885. She helped lay the foundation for what would become the most influential women’s organisation in the country at the time. She was an organiser and speaker, drawing connections between sobriety and social reform.

Lily Atkinson (later Kirk). A prominent WCTU leader in Wellington, Lily was known for her organising skills, public speaking, and social justice advocacy. She was also active in education and child welfare.

Sarah Jane Kirk. Another major Wellington figure and mother of Lily Atkinson. Sarah Kirk was deeply involved in missionary and temperance work and ran programmes that supported women, including public speaking and writing.

Leaders and Workers in Timaru and South Canterbury

Frances Ellen Parker. One of the early leaders of the Timaru branch, involved from its founding in the 1880s. She helped organise meetings and local advocacy work. Her name appears in early White Ribbon publications and in temperance reports from South Canterbury.

Mary Bray Woodward. While not a national leader, Mary was a long-time matron of the Sailors’ Rest in Timaru, serving from around 1918 until her death in 1950. She was affectionately known as “Mum” by visiting sailors and quietly carried out the movement’s values through hospitality, care, and practical help.

It's likely that many other Timaru women to learn about such as schoolteachers, Sunday school leaders, minister’s wives, and ordinary mothers, who would have all been part of the team, even if their names did not make the newspaper.

Global Leaders in Temperance

Frances Willard (USA). President of the World WCTU, she was a charismatic orator, strategist, and social reformer. She coined the term “Home Protection” to argue that women needed the vote to protect their families from the ravages of alcohol.

Eliza Daniel Stewart (USA). One of the earliest activists in the American women’s crusade against alcohol in the 1870s. Known as “Mother Stewart”, she led direct actions against saloons and was a founding figure of the WCTU.

After looking into the history of the Women’s Christian Temperance Union online, I came away with mixed feelings. On one hand, it is clear they did a huge amount of good. They fought hard for the vote, they helped struggling families, and they pushed for reforms in education, prisons, and public health. A lot of what they did was grounded in care for others and a desire to protect women and children from harm, especially in the face of alcohol abuse.

But I also noticed that their view of women’s rights was quite narrow, shaped by the Christian values of the time. They promoted something called “social purity” and were strongly opposed to homosexuality, which included a rejection of lesbian relationships. That part made me pause. While they were trailblazers in some areas, they also reinforced certain ideas about morality that excluded queer women and anyone who didn’t fit the mould of a Christian wife or mother.

It reminded me that even in movements for change, there are limits to who is included. And that it’s okay to both admire what someone did, and still question who was left out.

Sources

• Timaru District Council Historic Heritage Item Record: Sailors’ Rest, 19 Ritchie Street (2018)

• White Ribbon (WCTU national magazine), historical excerpts

• Papers Past (National Library of New Zealand) — obituaries and articles on Mary Bray Woodward

• NZHistory.govt.nz: WCTU, women’s suffrage, and six o’clock closing

• Te Ara: Encyclopaedia of New Zealand — alcohol and social history

• https://wctu.org.nz/history/

• https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/