Makers: Janet Ryan, Mary Napper (Tiara Tarts)

Panel number: 288

Petition Sheet Number: 341

Person honouring: Ada A. Findlay

Relationship to makers: One maker’s husband’s great-grandmother

Ada Annie Findlay is believed to have signed the petition as one of her first acts on arriving in New Zealand in 1893. Ada had just arrived from Australia, where she was born. It’s thought the petition was taken on board the ship for the women to sign. There are 95 signatures on the same sheet, all under the address of Bluff Harbour.

Ada was married to James Findlay who was a draper [and later a miner]. They settled in Invercargill for a period and then moved to Westport with their two children.

Ada was 72 when she died in 1936. She and James were buried at Orowaiti cemetery in Westport.

Panel materials: An old cotton sheet bought around 30 years ago in a garage sale. Indigo-dyed cotton thread also from a garage sale.