Memories of pioneering women

Ruapehu Bulletin, Volume 10, Issue 476, 9 March 1993, Page 11

Memories of pioneering women

by Myra Crowley At the Pioneer Women's Evening of Ruapehu International Training in Communication (ITC), Keitha Journeaux spoke on Vi Eastman, who has been a resident in Raetihi since 1920. Vi remem-

bered, among other things, baths where the present paddling pool is today and a golf course behind the Hospital. Dorothy McNie spoke about her mother who was the first woman trained in Dunedin as a doctor and who came to

Raetihi to practice. She married Mr Proude and the house, built in 1920, is still owned by the Proude family. The house, on Lakes Road, was the first in the area built with casement windows. Dorothy remembered

the dressmaker who came twice a year to make their summer and winter clothes, the washerwoman who did the washing for 2 shillings and sixpence and how they rode through standing bush to school and having to stop to clear the

horses' hooves of snow. It was two and a half hours by bus to Wanganui and often the passengers had to get out and push to keep it moving! Angora rabbits, rosehips and fleece off the fence were also remembered.

Dorothy Battersby recalled from the writings of her aunt, how in 1893 John Punch and Alex Bennett set up the first mill behind where the Raetihi Theatre Royale stands today. Mrs Thompson was three years old when she came to Ohakune and has lived here for 80 years. She is best known for her connection with the picture theatre, when trains ran from Horopito and Rangataua for people to go to the pictures in Ohakune and shopping on a Friday night. Mrs Helen Wiggins recalled when the main road came from Pipiriki through Ameku Road to Orautoha and their family had the first car in the Orautoha Valley. She is the oldest surviving woman to be born in Raetihi and will be celebrating her 80th birthday shortly. Jean Windle spoke about Mrs Tom Brown, the wife of one of the eighteen 1919 settlers in the ill-fated Mangateitei Valley, 30 miles from Raetihi. They later had to be re-settled. Their home was shifted piece-by-piece, to Ohura Road, where it still stands. Mrs Brown had a hard but

happy life and was a staunch supporter of rural women in the Women's Division of Federated Farmers. Harsh conditions made her a true pioneer. Miss Gladys Goldfinch added a novel twist to the evening by going through the legislation in the 1930's. The three important Acts which were put in place in 1936, 1940 and 1945 were worthwhile and kept people on the land and in their homes. Pioneers worked hard and valued their land. Those who had been to World War I had got out of touch with farming and the rehabilitation loans helped them get on their feet. Wives of these farmers were all good women, who supported their husbands with sympathy and understanding and made it possible for future generations to still be on the properties. The evening concluded with reminiscences between guests and members, of home-made soap, bread, butter, washing without machines, door-to-door deliveries of groceries, bread, vegetables and fish and challenges which made them all 'Pioneer Women'.