Biography contributed by Dr Nicola Francis
Mary Durham née McLennan signed the Women’s Suffrage petition at Waipū when she was 46 years old. Her younger sister Jessie McKenzie DOUGLAS also signed the petition at Waipū.
Mary was born around 1847 in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia to Christina McKENZIE (c.1818-1889) and John McLENNAN (c.1801-1886) of Big Harbour, Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, Canada. She was the second of eight children. The family, then with 5 children, migrated to New Zealand in 1852 on the Highland Lass to Adelaide, Australia and then to New Zealand on the Gazelle in 1853.
In 1875 Mary married John Durham at Waipū. Between 1876 and 1895, Mary gave birth to 13 children: Lilias Lamont (1876) John William (1877), Ellen (1879), William (1881), Norman (1882), Flora Margaret (1883), James Kenneth (1884), Robert Sheddan (1886), Donald (1887), Jane Fraser (1888), Christina (1889), Angus (1892), Isobella (1895).
Mary lost two of her sons to the First World War. Donald died on 8 August 1915 while serving with the Auckland Mounted Rifles at Chunuk Bair, Gallipoli. Norman, who served with the New Zealand Expeditionary Force on the Western Front in France, died of pulmonary tuberculosis aged 35 on 1 June 1917 in England. Just 3 months before Norman died in 1917, Mary’s husband John died on 16 March at the Braigh, Waipū aged 74.
Over several days in March 1919, Mary advertised the farm for sale:
FOR SALE at Waipu, a Farm of 160 acres 1 rood and 8 perches, situate within two miles from Post Office. House of 4 rooms on the property. Half the land is in grass and the balance in mixed bush and heavy manuka. Written offers for the property will be received by MRS MARY DURHAM, Waipu. 888.
On 24 November 1925, the Northern Advocate noted that Mary had sold her farm at the Braigh and she and her daughter Lilias ‘Lily’ were farewelled at a social at the Library Hall with a musical programme and a sumptuous supper. Their Waipū friends presented them with a roll of notes as a farewell gift and a token of the respect and esteem in which Waipū people held them. IN return Mary and Lily extended an invitation to all to visit them in their new home. Mary and Lily moved to 35 Lloyd Avenue, Mt Albert, Auckland where Mary died in June 1946, aged 98 years. A short service was held in Watney Sibun’s Sons' Chapel on 26 June, after which the funeral left for the Waipū Presbyterian Church, arriving at 1.30 p.m. Mary is buried in Waipū Cemetery.
Sources
Births, Deaths and Marriages Online. Te Tari Whenua Internal Affairs, New Zealand Government, Te Whanganui Ā Tara Wellington, Aotearoa New Zealand.
Waipū Museum, The Centre, Waipū, Tai Tokerau Northland, Aotearoa New Zealand
Papers Past, Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa | National Library of New Zealand, Te Whanganui Ā Tara Wellington, Aotearoa New Zealand.