Maker: Susan Wright

Panel number: 52

Petition Sheet Number: 43 

Person honouring: Dorothy Jones 

Relationship to makers: Sister of my great-grandfather Joseph Tweedy 

Dorothy Tweedy’s family stood up for what they believed was right. 

Dorothy was born 16 April 1846 in Pensher, Durham, England. She was one of Stephen and Ann Tweedy’s six children, Dorothy, Joseph, Ann, Deborah, Elener and Sarah. The family came to New Zealand on the ‘Cashmere’ arriving at Lyttelton on 11 October 1859. 

Dorothy Tweedy’s obituary records that she was an ‘original member of the Christchurch Choral Society’, and she probably met her future husband, George Jones, in these musical circles. George and Dorothy married on 13 September 1865. They moved from Christchurch to Auckland where he worked for the ‘Auckland Star’ before establishing the Waikato Times. 

In 1877 George and Dorothy Jones settled in Oamaru having bought the struggling Evening Mail (later renamed the Oamaru Mail). Not long after purchasing the paper, he published an editorial criticising a bill that had gone before Parliament dealing with the acquisition of Maori land. In Jones’ editorial he stated that the bill was developed to ‘further enrich, at the expense of the colony, the Attorney General and his Colleagues in land speculations’. The statement did not go down well with the government authorities. Jones refused to apologise for his editorial and was subsequently arrested and imprisoned under the care of the Sergeant-of-Arms. In March 1878 Jones was tried and acquitted. Dorothy was understood to be a great support to him at this time. He was one of the few newspaper men in New Zealand who was a staunch prohibitionist and while he did not sign the 1893 petition, he was supportive. Dorothy’s daughters Dora and Ann also signed the petition. 

Dorothy died on 28 April 1942 aged 97. 

Panel materials: Stranded embroidery thread, machine cotton and acrylic paint.