Source: Heritage New Zealand
A powerful new exhibition opens at Te Whare Waiutuutu Kate Sheppard House on Women’s Suffrage evening (19 September), featuring photographic portraits of unnamed women taken in the Whanganui-Rangitīkei region between 1856 and 1889.
Entitled Person Includes Woman: Nineteenth Century Women Confronting the Lens, the exhibition presents black and white photographs taken by Whanganui photographer William Harding between 1856-1889 . The selection of images offers a rare and striking insight into women’s lives during a formative period of colonial settlement.
Te Whare Waiutuutu Kate Sheppard House in Ilam was once the home and campaign hub of suffragist Kate Sheppard, who led a movement of national and international activism that secured woman’s suffrage in New Zealand in 1893.
Today, the house is cared for by Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga.
According to Helen Osborne, Property Lead for Te Whare Waiutuutu Kate Sheppard House, the exhibition title is a direct reference to groundbreaking women’s suffrage legislation that was passed in 1893.
According to Helen Osborne, Property Lead for Te Whare Waiutuutu Kate Sheppard House, the exhibition title is a direct reference to groundbreaking women’s suffrage legislation that was passed in 1893.
“For the first time, the law declared that “person includes woman” – a legal statement that recognised the legal and universal civic status of wāhine | women,” she says.
“These three words exposed the absurdity of needing to define women ‘as people’ – under the law before that, women were not legally recognised as persons! They remain a powerful reminder of how recent the struggle for women’s equality was and how deeply embedded in our nation’s collective memory and identity.”
Helen first encountered the William Harding photographic collection several years ago and was struck by the depth and emotional honesty of the portraits – images that immediately captured her attention.
“I became obsessed by this largely unrecognised series of glass plate negatives which offered an intimate glimpse of women living at great social change as well as the suffrage campaign,” she says.
“William Harding provided a safe and affordable space for a wide cross-section of women, Māori and Pākehā to sit for a portrait . They weren’t simply passive sitters or confined to colonial ideals of domesticity – they were recorded as individuals confronting the lens with intelligence, discomfort, confidence or unease. Although, these images were not created with political intent, seen together they form a vivid testament to women whose presence was often excluded from formal archives during a time when society was navigating transformations of power, culture and identity.”
In 2024, Harding’s photographic collection was recognised by UNESCO’s Memory of the World Register for its cultural and historical significance and compelling visual record.
According to the Dictionary of New Zealand Biography, William Harding and his wife Annie arrived in New Zealand in 1855 and settled in Whanganui where William set up a photographic studio the following year. Facing intense competition from other photographers, William’s business struggled and at one point was heavily subsidised by the success of a dance school run by Annie.
The biography says: “When taking portraits […] Harding failed to flatter his sitters either by investing in elaborate studios and fittings or by retouching.”
“The direct and steady gazes of his subjects connect with the viewer,” says Helen.
“The images reflect a range of social positions – from young to old, wāhine Māori, to working class to elite settler. Many names are now not known. The women selected all have presence, and their images challenge the restrictive visual codes of the Victorian era.”
The emotional range visible in so many of the women’s faces struck Helen, including expressions of defiance, grief, poise, boredom, tenderness and sometimes resistance to the photographic process itself.
“For Māori, the concept of kanohi kitea – the seen face – carries deep er cultural significance. Being visible and remembered within one’s own whānau and community has enduring value. This also speaks to mana wāhine – the authority, resilience, and presence of Māori women – which persists even when the colonial record has silenced or obscured their names,” she says.
Bottom of Form
In 1889 William and Annie moved to Sydney leaving behind 6500 glass plates which are now held in the Alexander Turnbull Library and the Whanganui Regional Museum.
The Te Whare Waiutuutu Kate Sheppard House Museum tours are at 11am and 1pm. Bookings recommended.