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ExhibitExplorer @[email protected] · 2026-08-03 · 22:00 UTC

Waiau District Heritage - Waiau CWI or 'Country Womens' Institute' 35th Birthday, October 1994

Waiau District Heritage - Waiau CWI or 'Country Womens' Institute' 35th Birthday:

A group of Waiau women who were interested in forming a local CWI, met at the Tūātapere Plunket Rooms on 5th October 1959 (and this is where our community archives are now stored and available for research!) We have recently been donated all the archives for this group, so they can stay local.
In the photo albums donated, this 35th birthday was the first event shown in the first one we opened, so this is the first item we are featuring for the Waiau CWI. As we process more of the donated records and photos, they will be entered in here, so that anyone connected to them can enjoy them all.

In this collection is 4 photos on the group's 35th Birthday event in 1994, at Queens Gardens, Invercargill. The photos have been named as follows.

IMAGES
Photo 1 - 35th Birthday, 1994, Cutting the cake is Ngaire Marshall. On the left looking on, is Jean Erskine and in the middle is Moira Horrell.
Photo 2 - Gloria Herrick has her turn at cutting the cake (there is an entry on Gloria Herrick elsewhere in our community archives online).
Photo 3 - 35th Birthday 1994, Tea Kiosk at Queens Park. Members are enjoying their meals. The names that we do know so far are as below:
Front left ?, Back left ?, Back second from left, Back middle left is Moira Horrell, Back middle right? Very back middle right ?, Very back second from right ?, Very back at right ? Left front ?
Photo 4 - 35th Birthday 1994, Tea Kiosk at Queens Park. Members are enjoying their meals. The names that we do know so far are as below:
Back left is thought to be Alice Baxter, Very back left (unable to be seen), Very back third from left ?, Very back left fourth from left (unable to be seen), Back centre fourth from left ?, Back right second from right is Ngaire Marshall, Front at right we have been told is Nina Templeton.
Photo 5 - Back of one photo, which says: "35 Birthday Oct 94, Queen Park"

WAIAU CWI BRIEF HISTORY
The group was duly formed, and called the, "Waiau CWI". Voted into office were, Mrs WG Harpur as President, Mrs CA Diack as Secretary, and Mrs CG Curtis as Treasurer. The groups first official meeting was at the RSA Hall on 21 Oct 1959. Initial membership was around 50, but dwindled to the point that the group eventually closed (we haven't yet found an exact date yet, but have processed minute books up until 2009 which have been gifted to the CWArchive) meaning Waiau CWI was in existence for at least 50 years.

The Waiau CWI had a banner created, it was made of blue velvet, with a painting of a local scene, being the original 'grand' old bridge across the Waiau (replaced in 1970) the 'majestic' Takitimu Mountains as a backdrop, painted by Mrs Lil Dickson. We have this banner in our Archive Collection.

Hopefully this entry will be added to as more information comes to hand. If you or anyone you know has any more information or photos to share or accounts of the Waiau CWI, events and members or the group itself, during the years, please do share this with us in the comments section. You can do this by making a comment in the space provided under the image page. Or you can make contact with us as per the archive front page.

Note: these entries are compiled with information provided by donors with the records, from locally reported news, from national and occasionally international reports in publications, from personal records made by the people themselves - such as their electoral enrollments, wills, war records etc., also from government and council held records such as births, deaths and marriages or cemetery information, and lastly, from community memories, such as those passed on by friends, family and contemporaries. It is not always possible to verify memories from others, so please let us know if you believe we have any incorrect information. If you believe that any public or personal record information quoted is wrong, if you can provide proof of any alternative fact to us in a document showing evidence of the correct details, that would be very helpful to us. Thank you.
Central and Western Murihiku Southland Archive via DigitalNZ

http://api.digitalnz.org/records/59550022/source

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#women #cwicountrywomen #womens #waiaudistrict #westernsouthland #clubs