Maker: Sarah Stratton

Panel number: 4

Petition sheet number: Signed 1892 suffrage petition

Person honouring: Kate Gannon

Relationship to maker: Great-great-grandmother

Kate was a woman of mana who fiercely defended her rights and the rights of her whanau and her people. Through her mother Kaikiri, Kate belonged to the Rongowhakaata, Te Aitanga a Mahaki, and Ngai Tāmanuhiri iwi in the Tūranganui-a-Kiwa (Gisborne) region. Her father, Thomas Halbert was an early settler in the area. Kate moved confidently through both Māori and Pakeha worlds, was an authority on whakapapa (genealogy), and was skilled in the art of discussion and debate. 

A transcript from August 1873 demonstrates her passion and conviction when she was questioned as to her rights to make land transactions without her husband’s permission, “You see that I am a woman, and although I am, you cannot tire me out. I can hold my own with you or any other Māori or European when I have to fight for any right”. Kate had 13 children from two different marriages and died at her daughter’s house in 1913. 

She has many descendants in the Tūranganui-a-Kiwa area, throughout Aotearoa, and across the world. Her expertise and words still echo through into our present – they are used today in processing iwi land and genealogical claims.

Panel materials: Almost all the fabric and other materials were ones I had on hand, although I purchased the green velvet fabric, as a nod to the green velvet dress that Kate was said to have worn on her wedding day.