Maker: Barbara Hilford

Panel number: 521

Petition sheet number: Did not sign 1893 petition

Person honouring: Mary Thompson

Relationship to maker: Maternal grandmother.

Mary Cowan was born in 1885 near Newcastle, United Kingdom. After the death of her mother and her second child, she left England to join her husband, a coal miner, in a remote area off the South Island, New Zealand. She sold her possessions and travelled by ship, the Rimutaka, with her two remaining children, one of whom was my mother. (The Rimutaka was the last passenger ship to sail from England in 1916, during WW1. It had to journey via the Southern Ocean to avoid German submarines.) 

After three more children and years in mining townships, Mary was widowed at the age of 45. In difficult circumstances, she raised a family that she could be proud of. A strong independent woman. 

Panel materials: Old used family sheets. Backing provided was my Mother’s bed cover.