Zonta donates white camellias for Whangārei park for Women's Suffrage Day

The Zonta Club of Whangārei has donated a dozen white camellias to the city in honour of the 125th anniversary of New Zealand women having the right to vote.

Whangārei District Council parks staff had planted the donated shrubs in Laurie Hall Park, some near the cenotaph and others below the Bank St wall, Zonta member Dianne Perrin said.

During the campaign of the early 1890s, suffrage supporters wore white camellias in their buttonholes and opponents wore red ones. The white camellia has since become a symbol of the New Zealand suffrage win in 1893.

The 125th anniversary of what is now known as Suffrage Day is on Wednesday, September 19.

The large white double bloom camellia, named Kate Sheppard after the most prominent leader of the campaign, was developed by Taranaki breeder Viv Joyce for the centenary.

The peaceful campaigners who sought universal suffrage - the right to vote - were known as suffragists.

While the New Zealand campaign was insistent and at times fraught, it was non-violent.

In Britain, from the 1870s until 1918 when women over the age of 30 were finally able to vote, the peaceful suffragist movement included men who supported the right of everyone to vote.

The women known as ''suffragettes'' believed in direct action and often staged militant protests. They were acting mainly under the umbrella of Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU), and men were banned from their midst.

125 YEARS: The numbers behind women's right to vote in NZ

1893

- On November 28, NZ women can vote for the first time.

90,290

women aged 21 years and over cast their votes at polling stations all around NZ. Despite warnings from opponents of women's suffrage that "lady voters" might be harassed at polling booths, election day passed off in a relaxed, festive atmosphere.

4000

of the 11,269 Maori votes are cast by women.

More than half

of Pakeha women are enrolled to vote. (NZ population in 1893 about 700,000).

51,000

women sign various suffrage petitions over two years.

211

women in Northland sign one petition.

• A wide range of events have been planned in Northland to celebrate Suffrage Day. For details go to http://women.govt.nz/about/new-zealand-women/history/suffrage-125/events-celebrations