Biographical information provided by Vicky Mee for the He Tohu exhibition:
My great grandmother, Catherine Strong, was one of the crusading women who actively campaigned for female suffrage. She signed the Petition in Mangonui, Northland, a tiny, remote settlement with a population of just 249 in 1901.
Born Catherine Agnes Kelly in 1863 in Scotland, she married Edward Strong in Sydney in 1884. They had eight children together. Catherine was known as ‘Kate’ which is probably why her signature on the petition reads K.A. Strong rather than C.A. Strong.
My grandmother remembered being embarrassed by her mother on Election Days. Catherine would call on all the surrounding neighbours and if the women had not voted they received a militant “We fought for that vote. Now you go out and use it!” That challenge resonates with me today.