Maker: Gill Marks

Panel number: 247

Petition sheet number: 302

Person honouring: R. F. [Rora] Orbell

Relationship to maker: Great-great-grandmother

Rora Wilkie was born in 1838 at Otago Heads to Peter Wilkie and Mata (Martha) Whio of Ngāi Tahu. Rora’s mother was the child of Te Hori and Te Ruahaunui. Mata later married Wiremu Nera Potiki in 1843. They had two children: Henare Kingi and Ihaia Potiki.

Rora, who [also] went by the names Rhoda Flora, married an English migrant named Arthur Orbell in 1857. She was 19. On their marriage certificate Arthur put his occupation as ‘gentleman’. They were married at the house of Mrs Haberfield, Rora’s aunt and Mata’s sister. The couple settled at Moeraki and had 12 children.

Rora Orbell signed the petition along with her daughter Frances Ada Amelia. She spent her life agitating and petitioning for the retention of Māori land, both in and out of the land courts.

Rora was widowed in 1916 and died the following year in April 1917, aged 80.

Panel materials: Cotton pillowcase for base, DMC cotton thread, acrylic gel medium, and paper.