Biography contributed by Katherine Blakeley
Emily Lack (known as Minnie) was born in Victoria, Australia in 1856 – the daughter of Thomas Lack, a signwriter, and Georgina Elizabeth Ballinger.
She came to Otago with her parents in 1862 on the St Jean and they settled in Dunedin.
'As a mere child she took to music, for which she evinced a passion, and used to regularly play for Mrs Hamann’s dancing classes.'
As her voice developed Minnie 'appeared with a large degree of success in Carmini Morley’s opera productions of 1879 and 1880' taking leading parts.
She married Charles James Gore, a builder, on 4 August 1881 at St Matthew’s Church in Dunedin and they had four children.
When Minnie signed the suffrage petition the family were living in Queens Drive, Musselburgh, Dunedin.
Charles died in 1917 and Emily died on 5 December 1922, they are buried with their son in the Andersons Bay Cemetery.
Sources
BDM online NZ https://bdmhistoricalrecords.dia.govt.nz/
DCC Cemetery Records http://www.dunedin.govt.nz/facilities/cemeteries/cemeteries-search
Family Search https://www.familysearch.org
Otago Nominal Index http://marvin.otago.ac.nz
Papers Past https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz
BDM Victoria https://online.justice.vic.gov.au