Maker: Rae Duff

Panel number: 363

Petition sheet number: 435

Person honouring: Dinah Dawson

Relationship to makers None

Dinah was born on 16 November 1867 to Ruth Brant in Little Carlton, a small rural village near Louth in Lincolnshire. Her father’s name is not recorded. Dinah Brant became Dinah Dawson when her mother married John Dawson in October 1876. 

Ruth and John had eight children, six were born in New Zealand. The family emigrated to New Zealand in 1879 after John, an experienced agricultural labourer, was recruited under the Vogel Immigration Scheme – which offered free passage to suitable immigrants.

They arrived in Napier in November aboard the May Queen. John was employed by the Williams family to work at their Frimley Estate on the outskirts of Hastings. 

Not much is known about Dinah’s early life – she probably had limited schooling; her occupation is listed in electoral rolls as ‘domestic duties’. Dinah devoted much time to supporting her parents’ growing family; their ninth child, Maud, was born in 1889. Family life changed dramatically when Ruth died of tuberculosis later that year, aged 41.

Dinah, then aged 21, broke off her engagement to support her family. She later married Alfred Colyer (a shepherd) in Hastings in April, 1896. ‘Alf’ was born in Essex, England, in 1870.

Dinah and Alfred had three children: Louisa Maud (1897), Catherine May (1899), and Henry Alfred (1900). Catherine died aged three in 1902. Alf remained a shepherd at Tunanui until about 1905 when he and Dinah shifted to Napier, where he worked as a butcher. 

Dinah Dawson died in Dannevirke in November 1918, at the age of 51 after contracting the Spanish influenza virus while visiting her younger brother Albert and his family. Dinah was buried at Park Island cemetery in Napier.

Panel materials: Own old embroidered pillowcase, printed cotton material, buttons, and thread. Bought Heat n Bond iron-on adhesive sheets to paste photos and words onto fabric.