Maker: Carla Bentley

Panel number: 45

Petition Sheet Number: 35 

Person honouring: Amelia Kinnear 

Relationship to makers: None 

Sarah Lillian Ross, the daughter of James and Eleanor Ross, was born in Lisnaskea, Northern Ireland in 1859. 

In 1882 she married John Andrew Millar in Wellington. John would have a significant effect on trade unionism in New Zealand including for the Federated Seamen’s Union and Tailoresses’ Union, and he spent 21 years as a Member of Parliament. 

When her husband was elected the first full-time general secretary of the Federated Seamen’s Union of NZ, the Millars moved to Dunedin with their two children around 1887. Another child was born in 1891.Sarah was living in Bruce Street, Roslyn when she signed the petition in 1893. They moved to 21 High Street, Roslyn, just north of the Roslyn Presbyterian Church. Sarah died in Roslyn in 1906 after a short illness, aged 47. Her funeral was attended by the then Premier, the Hon. Sir J.G. Ward (the 17th Prime Minster of New Zealand). 

Panel materials: I used an old cotton sheet, old buttons and lace.