Maker: Biddy Grant

Panel number: 328

Petition sheet number: 389

Person honouring: Mrs [Susan] Collett

Relationship to maker: None

Susan Morris arrived in Auckland in August 1859, having been born at sea during the voyage from Plymouth, England, on board the barque British Queen.

In July 1880 Susan married William Upris Collett, who was born in Auckland in 1854. She lived with William until her death on 4 April 1939.

According to the recollections of William Collett, published in the Auckland Star in 1944, the Morris family’s life in New Zealand began tragically. After arriving, Susan’s father Enoch Morris left herself and mother Jane in Auckland and set off with four other men in a small boat for New Plymouth, where he had heard opportunities were better. The boat was caught on the bar at Onehunga, and the men were not heard of again. 

In 1893, when she signed the petition, Susan and William were living in Brown Street, Ponsonby. In 1921 her entry in the Old Colonists Association Register records her address as 35 Brown Street. Before Brown Street, birth notices suggest the family had lived nearby in Napier Street and Douglas Street.

Susan was 34 when she signed the petition, with four children (Susan, William Humphreys, Florrie, and Henry) aged between three and 12 years.

In 1912 Susan and William moved to Clevedon, where Susan took an active part in social activities in the area. At their Golden Wedding in 1930 she was presented with gifts from the Sewing Guild, Clevedon Croquet Club, and the Mothers’ Club of the YWCA.

Panel materials: Floral cotton fabric, embroidery thread, seed beads, ric rac, vintage lace, hooks, buttons – all from my stash. Harakeke paper, which I made.