Maker: Lee Milne

Panel number: 8

Petition sheet number: Signed 1892 petition

People honouring: Isabella and Margaret Milne

Relationship to maker: Great-great-grandmother and her daughter

Isabella Rae was born on 11 June 1845. She arrived in New Zealand from Eddrachillis, in the Highlands of Scotland, around 1864. She married Francis Milne in Knox Church Dunedin on 7 Jan 1867.

She and her husband were sheep farmers in East Chatton, near Gore, having purchased the property in 1872. She named the farm ‘Kinrara’ after an estate south of Inverness she saw on her journey to the ship she was to emigrate on. 

Isabella and Francis had nine children, Margaret being the third child and second daughter. Isabella died on 13 Jan 1910.

Panel materials: All created from my stash. The hexagons represent the heather of the highlands, the sea on her journey to NZ (and the ship rats), and sheep for her farm. The pieced blocks symbolise the twisted and complicated progression of her life, the family tartan for her early life and heritage, and the sheep for her life in NZ. The hessian and the basket weave fabric represent the rural lifestyle of early NZ. I managed to include photos of both Isabella and Margaret, and their signatures from the 1892 petition. I don’t know why they didn’t sign the later, successful petition.