The Women Behind Timaru’s Suffrage Garden
Women’s suffrage
Kate Sheppard Memorial Garden
Fundraising and community organising
Women’s history
Beside the South Canterbury Museum is a garden created to mark 100 years since New Zealand women won the parliamentary vote. Timaru’s Kate Sheppard Memorial Garden opened on 3 July 1993, with white and purple planting recalling the suffrage campaign. WuHoo’s working research identifies Faye Hammond and Jean Lewis as co-ordinators of the local project. Their individual responsibilities still need to be checked against committee and Council files, but their story offers a valuable example of women turning historical memory into a lasting public place.
The Kate Sheppard Memorial Garden was created by the people of Timaru to commemorate the centenary of women’s suffrage. It was officially opened by Dame Miriam Dell on 3 July 1993.
White and purple flowers were used to connect the garden with the colours associated with the suffrage movement. The garden has included roses, lavender, a copper beech and, more recently, a Kate Sheppard camellia.
The WuHoo women’s-history audit identifies Faye Hammond and Jean Lewis as co-ordinators of the 1993 project. It records their contribution as organising and fundraising for a public memorial garden.
That is a substantial claim, but its underlying primary source is not yet visible on the public WuHoo page. The garden’s existence and opening are well documented. The exact division of work between Faye, Jean, other committee members, Council parks staff, contractors, donors and participating organisations remains to be established.
For that reason, they should presently be profiled together rather than given separate narratives that might falsely imply distinct achievements.
The work of creating a memorial garden can involve many practical steps: selecting a site, obtaining Council approval, raising money, agreeing on a design, sourcing plants, arranging construction and preparing an opening ceremony. We should not assign any one of these tasks to Faye or Jean until the minutes and correspondence say who did what.
What can safely be said is that the project emerged from organised local effort and produced a durable public place. The Timaru Civic Trust records that the garden was gifted to the city by its citizens and opened as part of the 1993 suffrage centenary.
The location is meaningful. The garden sits beside the museum and close to the Council buildings, linking historical memory with the institutions that collect local stories and make civic decisions.
It also gives suffrage history a physical presence. The national achievement of 1893 can otherwise feel distant, located in Parliament, Christchurch or a famous petition. In Timaru, the garden brought that story into a place where people could sit, walk and notice.
The garden continued to serve this purpose in 2018, when South Canterbury marked 125 years of women’s suffrage. The National Council of Women South Canterbury and Zonta helped lead a ceremony that included the planting of a Kate Sheppard camellia.
Faye and Jean’s likely impact was therefore not only the completion of a landscaping project. They helped create a local point of return for later commemorations and conversations about women’s political voice.
Their story should remain collective until the records allow their individual work to be distinguished.
Impact snapshot
What they helped create: A permanent public garden commemorating the centenary of women’s suffrage.
What became possible: Timaru gained a visible place for education, reflection and later commemorative events.
Who else contributed: Committee members, citizens, women’s organisations, Council staff, fundraisers, contractors, donors and Dame Miriam Dell.
Notice: The white and purple flowers, camellia, bluestone walls and museum beside the garden.
Question: Who designed, funded, planted and cared for this place?
Invitation: People involved in the 1993 project may still hold photographs, programmes, letters, receipts or meeting minutes that identify the full team.
Timeline
1893: New Zealand women gain the right to vote in parliamentary elections.
Early 1990s: Timaru organisers plan a local centenary memorial garden.
3 July 1993: Dame Miriam Dell officially opens the Kate Sheppard Memorial Garden.
2018: NCW South Canterbury and Zonta help mark the 125th anniversary, including the ceremonial planting of a Kate Sheppard camellia.
Today: The garden remains beside the South Canterbury Museum as a public memorial.
Sources
Timaru Civic Trust, “The Kate Sheppard Memorial Garden”, 2017.
Confirms that the garden was gifted by Timaru citizens and opened by Dame Miriam Dell on 3 July 1993.
WuHoo, “Spot the White Camellia? Discover a Garden with a Story”.
Supports the location, commemorative purpose, planting and 2018 anniversary event. It does not currently display the primary evidence identifying Faye and Jean’s precise roles.
WuHoo garden guide, “Kate Sheppard Memorial Garden”.
Supports the 2018 NCW and Zonta ceremony and camellia planting.
WuHoo Women Who Shaped South Canterbury working audit.
Identifies Faye Hammond and Jean Lewis as project co-ordinators. The source behind this identification still needs to be attached to the publication file.