| Auckland Women's Suffrage Memorial | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Artist |
|
| Year | 1993 |
| Medium | Mural |
| Location | Khartoum Place,Auckland, New Zealand |
TheAuckland Women's Suffrage Memorial is a public mural designed by artists Jan Morrison andClaudia Pond Eyley for the centenary ofwomen securing the vote in New Zealand. It is one of the first and few dedicated suffrage memorials in New Zealand.[1] It is located atKhartoum Place,Auckland CBD, on the stairs that connect Kitchener and Lorne Street and lead toAuckland Art Gallery.
The site of the memorial was part of an area occupied by multipleiwi includingTe Waiōhua andNgāti Whātua. In 1840, it was part of the land offered tothe Crown byNgāti Whātua.[1]
In 1893,female suffrage was established. In 1993, the Suffrage Centennial Trust / Whakatū Wahine was established on the centenary of the occasion to promote public education on the suffrage.[2] Auckland artist Jan Morrison approached the Trust andAuckland City Council for funding for the creation of a mural which would commemorate the centenary.[2]Khartoum Place, was selected as the location and Morrison completed the mural with the help of fellow feminist artistClaudia Pond Eyley.[3] The project was community-led with a specific focus on the women of northern New Zealand who contributed to the movement.[3]
The memorial opened on 20 September 1993, the day following the opening of theKate Sheppard National Memorial inChristchurch.[3] Thegovernor-general,Dame Catherine Tizard, andpresident of Ireland,Mary Robinson, unveiled the mural. They were both the first women to hold their respective positions, and from 1983 to 1990, Tizard was the first femalemayor of Auckland.[2] The unveiling included a navy band, a procession downQueen Street and apōwhiri.[4]
The mural consists of 12 panels made up of 2,000 colourful tiles.[5] It is a two-dimensional piece of art, but a three-dimensional space that wraps around and includes a water feature.[2] Across the first fives panels unfurlsKate Sheppard's scroll, which signifies thewomen's suffrage petition signed by over 25,000 women across New Zealand. The third panel displayswhite camellias, the flower that was gifted to members of parliament in support of thewomen's franchise bill. Bordering the central panels are Māorikete (flax baskets), symbolising a weaving together of cultures, andkoru, to signify transformation and growth.[5] The tenth panel, on the uppermost section of the stairs, shows illustrations of iconic motifs of Auckland—Rangitoto, thepōhutukawa tree, and thehuia–and theSouthern Cross to represent New Zealand as a whole.[3]
Painted on the eighth and ninth panels are eleven women significant to the suffrage movement in New Zealand:
Four women are depicted with bicycles, which were the mode of transportation that women would use to gather signatures from more rural locations.[3]
The mural's placement and importance have been contested subjects since its inception. It has come under threat of redevelopment many times.
In 2005, Auckland City Council held a competition for a $2 million upgrade ofKhartoum Place, with none of the entrants intending to keep the memorial. Original artists Morrison and Pond Eyley were given the final say, to which they declined its re-siting or demolition.[6]
In 2006, the Auckland art fraternity tried to have the mural removed, stating it lacked artistry and blocked the view to theAuckland Art Gallery. Four influential women—Dame Catherine Tizard,Dame Georgina Kirby,Dame Dorothy Winstone andDame Thea Muldoon—objected. They argued, alongside theNational Council of Women, that the memorial must stay, and that the mural's historical importance was being ignored.[6] Writer and art curatorHamish Keith, arguing for the removal of the stairs to open up the space to the newly extended Auckland Art Gallery, likened the mural to a makeshift urinal.[7] In response,Brian Rudman wrote in theNew Zealand Herald:
"To them, it's a folk-art excrescence, polluting the front door of their newly upgraded temple of high art."[8]
Women in Auckland and multiple associated organisations created an online petition to save the memorial.[6] In 2012, the nascentAuckland Council decided to upgradeKhartoum Place without demolishing or moving the memorial.[9]
In 2015, a group of architects and gallery owners again attempted to have the mural moved. They claimed the mural was too "folksy" and "crafty", and that the gallery deserved a better staircase leading up to it. The National Council of Women then petitioned through the unitary plan process to have the memorial protected as a heritage item.[6] In 2016, their petitioning resulted in the memorial being listed as a Category A historic heritage place in the Auckland Council's unitary plan.[2][3]
In 2016, theWaitematā Local Board agreed to rename Lower Khartoum Place, where the memorial sits, to Te Hā o Hine Suffrage Place,[10] to associate the site more strongly with the women's suffrage movement in recognition of the memorial's importance. The name was gifted byNgāti Whātua, and references theMāori proverb:Me aro koe ki te hā o Hine ahu one, which can be interpreted as 'pay heed to the dignity of women'.[10]
In 2022, the Auckland Women's Suffrage Memorial was listed byHeritage New Zealand as acategory 1 historic place.[3] Heritage New Zealand noted that the memorial had great cultural, social, historic and physical significance, and that persistent campaigns to protect it showed the public esteem for the artwork.[1]