Auckland Women's Suffrage Memorial

The Auckland Women's Suffrage Memorial is a public mural designed by artists Jan Morrison and Claudia Pond Eyley for the centenary of women securing the vote in New Zealand. It is one of the first and few dedicated suffrage memorials in New Zealand. It is located at Khartoum Place, Auckland CBD, on the stairs that connect Kitchener and Lorne Streets and lead to Auckland Art Gallery. The site of the memorial was part of an area occupied by multiple iwi including Te Waiōhua and Ngāti Whātua. In 1840, it was part of the land offered to the Crown by Ngāti Whātua. In 1893, female suffrage was established. In 1993, the Suffrage Centennial Trust / Whakatū Wahine was established on the centenary of the occasion to promote public education on suffrage. Auckland artist Jan Morrison approached the Trust and Auckland City Council for funding for the creation of a mural which would commemorate the centenary. Khartoum Place was selected as the location and Morrison completed the mural with the help of fellow feminist artist Claudia Pond Eyley. The project was community-led with a specific focus on the women of northern New Zealand who contributed to the movement. The memorial opened on 20 September 1993, the day following the opening of the Kate Sheppard National Memorial in Christchurch. The governor-general, Dame Catherine Tizard, and president of Ireland, Mary Robinson, unveiled the mural. They were both the first women to hold their respective positions, and from 1983 to 1990, Tizard was the first female mayor of Auckland. The unveiling included a navy band, a procession down Queen Street and a pōwhiri. The mural consists of 12 panels made up of 2,000 colourful tiles. It is a two-dimensional piece of art, but a three-dimensional space that wraps around and includes a water feature. Across the first five panels unfurls Kate Sheppard's scroll, which signifies the women's suffrage petition signed by over 25,000 women across New Zealand. The third panel displays white camellias, the flower that was gifted to members of parliament in support of the women's franchise bill. Bordering the central panels are Māori kete (flax baskets), symbolising a weaving together of cultures,

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