A life recorded through other people’s judgements
c.1845–after 1883
Scotland, Pareora, Timaru and Ashburton Forks
Immigration, hospitality
Poverty, colonial policing and women before the law
Catherine Gordon arrived in South Canterbury as a girl of about 13 or 14. She was one of the government immigrants landed at Timaru from the Strathallan in January 1859, when the town was still an exposed beach settlement. Her parents appear to have been George Gordon, a shepherd, and Christina Gilchrist. The family lived initially at Pareora Station and later became associated with Waimate.
In 1863, aged about 18, Catherine married 28-year-old mariner Strong Work Morrison. Her father’s consent was required. The marriage took place at a dwelling known as The Stumps at Orari, although the surviving records give conflicting dates and the original marriage registration is still needed to settle the exact day.
Strong Work became one of the most visible men in Timaru’s early port history. He worked as a pilot and beachmaster and later became a publican. Catherine shared that life but generated far fewer records.
One rare glimpse of her appears in 1872, after fire broke out at the Ship Hotel. Catherine told the inquest that she woke to cries of fire at about 3.30 in the morning and escaped through the back of the burning building in her nightdress. Her evidence also shows her carrying out the ordinary work of the hotel household, including removing ashes.
The marriage later broke down. Strong Work’s divorce petition alleged that Catherine developed problems with alcohol from about 1876. That was his account, presented through his lawyers. Another witness remembered the couple appearing to be on good terms as late as 1879. Catherine’s own explanation does not survive in the published court report.
In February 1879, Catherine was convicted of vagrancy at Ashburton under her maiden name and sentenced to two months’ labour. The Police Gazette classified her as a prostitute and recorded her physical appearance in the language of the criminal justice system. These labels tell us how colonial authorities viewed her, but they do not tell us how Catherine understood herself or how she came to be living under such precarious circumstances.
Police witnesses later placed her at John O’Shea’s rough dwelling at Ashburton Forks. A detective found her washing dishes inside a one-room shelter made from posts and tarpaulin after an earlier house had burned. The police continued to watch her movements.
Strong Work petitioned for divorce in 1882. The case was heard at Timaru in June 1883, and the court granted him a decree nisi. The newspaper devoted considerable space to the statements of Strong Work, police officers and male witnesses. Catherine’s own evidence was not included.
After that, she disappears from the record presently available to us.
We do not yet know whether Catherine remained at Ashburton Forks, returned to her family, adopted another surname or died far from South Canterbury. Her grave has not been identified.
Catherine’s life is uncomfortable to research because the surviving documents were largely created when authorities believed she had done something wrong. They record accusation, surveillance and punishment much more readily than hardship, loneliness, illness or survival.
Her story should not be rewritten to make her either a villain or a faultless victim. There is not enough evidence for either interpretation. What can be said is that a girl who crossed the world to help populate a new colonial settlement later found herself living at its social margins, described almost entirely through the voices of policemen, lawyers and an estranged husband.
Recovering Catherine Gordon does not mean pretending that we know everything about her. It means recognising the imbalance in what was preserved and continuing to search for the woman behind the judgement.
NOTE Christine Gordon, who may have been Catherine’s mother, signed the same petition sheet. Catherine’s 1863 marriage record identifies her father as George Gordon of the Pareora district, making the family connection promising but not yet conclusively proved. https://nzhistory.govt.nz/suffragist/mrs-gordon-0