Makers: Luana Johnston and Janice Syddall

Panel number: 459

Petition sheet number: Unknown

Person honouring: Clara Matilda Hull Walker

Relationship to makers: Great-great-grandmother

Clara Matilda [Hull] Walker was born in Wiltshire in 1825. After her mother died when she was six years old, she was sent to live with her uncle and his wife in Christian Malford, a Wiltshire village. She was only eight when she stitched the sampler highlighted in our panel. 

Matilda and her friend Emma Lanfear arrived in New Zealand aboard the Cashmere in May 1853. Their journey was much longer than usual because they had to return to Southampton for repairs following storms. However, this may have been an advantage because one of their fellow passengers was Bishop Williams – who was returning to New Zealand after getting his work on Māori grammar printed. He held Māori language classes and by the time they reached Auckland, the women were reportedly able to read and speak Māori.

Following her arrival in New Zealand, Matilda spent time at the Hauraki Mission where she met her future husband, Charles Hartley McCall. They married in 1856 and their first child was born in 1858. He was the first white child to be born in the Thames Goldfield area. 

Matilda and Charles moved to Coromandel in 1866 and spent the next 33 years there until her death in 1899.

Panel materials: The top section of the panel is made from a piece of fabric printed by Luana several years ago using a linocut technique. This was reversed to create a textured look and the letters VOTE were made from the face side of the same material and appliqued onto the base. The middle section was a photograph of the original sampler made by Clara Matilda Hull Walker and printed onto a transfer sheet then ironed onto the fabric. The bottom section, including her biographical detail, was sewn in long stitch using embroidery cotton. This was all mounted onto an old cotton sheet.