Maker: Carole Taylor

Panel number: 232

Petition sheet number: 284

Person honouring: Agnes Davison

Relationship to maker: Not applicable

Agnes was born in Ireland in 1845 during the potato famine, and was baptised in Ballymena, County Antrim, Ireland. Her parents were Agnes Gavin and Joseph  Houston. 

On 6 February 1866, Agnes married William Davison in Ahoghill and over the next eight years had four children. In August 1874, the family left Ireland for Australia, sailing on the St Vincent from Plymouth, England.

They arrived in Adelaide in November 1874. The Davisons bought land near Burra Burra in South Australia and were soon joined by William’s sister, Sarah, and Samuel Campbell. The families grew wheat and raised cattle. Agnes and William had five more children in South Australia: William, Annie, Olive, Agnes, and Priscilla. 

In 1888, after four years of devastating drought, the Davisons left for New Zealand. They travelled from Burra Burra by train to Port Augusta and then to Dunedin on the Rotomahana.

They bought a farm on the Winslow-Willowby Road near Willowby in the Ashburton district. Their 10th child was born the following year. The Women’s Christian Temperance Union was active in the area at that time and it is likely Agnes was attracted to its cause.

She signed the petition when living at Willowby and enrolled to vote from there in 1893 and 1896, as did Margaret Davidson [domestic servant].

William died in 1912. In 1926, when Agnes was 81, she married her brother-in-law David Kerr. She died two years later on 21 October 1928 and was buried alongside William in the Ashburton cemetery.

Panel materials: Fabric already had. Pete’s Emporium. Off-cuts found.