Maker: Bronwyn Furlan

Panel number: 292

Petition sheet number: 346

Person honouring: Mary Frentz

Relationship to maker: None

Mary Frentz signed the petition alongside 22 other women in the small Southland settlement of Orepuki.

Stitcher Bronwyn says “those women were marvellous, they gave us a voice, a place in the world, and they set New Zealand women on a path that we can be proud of. I hope Mary did not have a difficult time after she signed the petition, I am so very grateful that she did.”

Mary was born in Scotland to Robert and Margaret Frew. Her younger siblings were born in Victoria and New Zealand. She moved to New Zealand before the age of 12, settling with her family in Riverton. In 1874 [aged 22] she married Charles Frentz, a Danish farmer, and they settled at Orepuki in Southland.

Mary and Charles had two children, Margaret and Rudolf. Mary died in 1911 at the age of 59. She was buried at Orepuki cemetery, where Charles joined her in 1926.

Panel materials: Nothing new for my piece – I hunted around my stash of stuff in my studio and found all I needed. I used cotton fabrics for the photocopied print, lugana counted-thread fabric for the Hardanger embroidery, cotton lace, silk ribbon, jute sacking and tape, buttons, and embroidery thread.