Maker: Lynley Brookie

Panel number: 286

Petition sheet number: 338

Person honouring: Mrs Margaret Coster

Relationship to maker: Great-great-aunt by marriage

Margaret (Maggie) Auld Coster (born Porteous) died in childbirth in 1894 at the age of 24. She had married William Coster in 1891. Maggie and William’s son Gordon lived to be 87.

Maggie  signed the petition in Winton, Southland, although she gave her address as Oreti. Maggie was the great-great-aunt by marriage of stitcher Lynley, who has also acknowledged other women in her family who signed the petition.

Margaret Coster and the other women who signed the suffrage petition have helped future young women to flourish and grow to be strong and confident women.

Panel materials: No new materials – leftover fabrics, embroidery threads, and beads. Buttons from many different button boxes; some handed down from previous generations. Those giving buttons also gave the panel their fond memories of garments, occasions, and fabulous women. Photos of women of the 1890s were usually generic solemn, stiff, black and white portraits, which give little indication of personality – my panel aims to represent the individuality, vibrancy, imagination, spirit, and colour of these women. The garden theme acknowledges that the women who signed have helped future young women to flourish and grow into strong and confident women. I included the names of two women on my side of the family (sheet 338) and two of my husband’s (sheet 525). The 46 beads on the 1893 garden bed honour the other women from page 338. The stems of the flowers read ‘Hear Our Voices’; the leaves name myself, my sisters, my daughters, and my nieces – and the date each woman proudly voted for the first time.