The story board alongside the statue of Dame Hilda Ross. Photo: Mary Anne Gill
Three elected Waipā district members of Parliament have been left off a story board in Garden Place, Hamilton which honours Waikato’s female MPs.
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- Katherine O’Regan
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- Barbara Kuriger
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- Louise Upston
The omission of Katherine O’Regan, Louise Upston and Barbara Kuriger is even more bewildering because featured on the board is New Zealand First’s Barbara Stewart, who lived in Cambridge during her 12 years as a List MP.
Iriaka Ratana
Now the organiser of the board, former Hamilton mayor Margaret Evans, is scrambling for explanations on how the ‘mystery’ oversight of O’Regan occurred – she was on the final list – and is vowing to put it right.
The statue of the legendary Dame Hilda Ross was unveiled in October 2020 with the story board erected alongside it several months later.
On the board’s list of Waikato MPs is Dame Hilda, Iriaka Ratana, Dorothy Jelicich, Marilyn Waring, Dianne Yates, Nanaia Mahuta, Margaret Wilson, Barbara Stewart and Sue Moroney.
Of the three Waipā names missing, O’Regan’s is the most glaring as aside from being an MP from 1984-1999, she was also in 1977 the first woman elected to the Waipā County Council and a member of the Te Awamutu Walk of Fame.
Margaret Wilson
“You have uncovered a mystery,” Evans told The News in reference to O’Regan’s omission.
She supplied information sent to the Hamilton City Council when the copy for the story board was approved. O’Regan was on that list but missed off the final copy.
“You will see that we had 10 women MPs in the final list.
“My recall is that we retained Margaret Wilson because of her ‘history making’ as the first woman speaker and closely involved with
Barbara Stewart
Hamilton over many years, and therefore we had to add in the other list MP Barbara Stewart (which also gave a cross-party theme).”
Stewart was by then out of Parliament – she did two stints as a List MP – from 2002-2008 and 2011-2017.
But Upston had been Taupō MP for 13 years – she entered Parliament in 2008 – and Kuriger seven as Taranaki-King Country’s elected representative.
The Taupō electorate, despite its name, includes the Waikato towns of Cambridge, Tokoroa and Putāruru. Taupō town is itself part of the Waikato Regional Council territorial authority – established in 1989 – but for sporting purposes, particularly rugby, is in King Country and for other sports, Bay of Plenty.
Dianne Yates
The Taranaki-King Country electorate, again despite its name, includes Te Awamutu which is as Waikato as mooloo bells and red, yellow and black hooped rugby jerseys.
Other towns like Te Kuiti, Ōtorohanga and Inglewood are aligned in rugby parlance with King Country and Taranaki.
Katherine O’Regan died in 2018 and her daughter Susan, now Waipā’s first female mayor, said she was unaware her mother had been left off the board and was surprised at the omission.
Kuriger said it looked like an oversight to her that the Taranaki-King Country MP would not be included on the board.
Sue Moroney
“Perhaps those who make the decisions about who is included could consider the geographics of the electorates and not just be guided by the names of them.”
Upston said it had been pointed out her name was missing.
The Dame Hilda Ross statue with the storyboard behind it in Garden Place, Hamilton. Photo: Mary Anne Gill.
“It’s great that Dame Hilda was acknowledged with this statue. She was a staunch advocate for women and children and reducing poverty, and her portfolios were very similar to my current ones.”
Marilyn Waring
Upston chairs the Dame Hilda Ross Trust set up in the National Party to support and develop women leaders.
“She and other Waikato women MPs have paved the way for women like me, and my contemporaries who work so hard on behalf of their constituents.”
When the board gets updated, it would be an opportune time to set the record straight by listing all Waikato female MPs, said Upston.
That would now include Hana-Rawhiti Maipi-Clarke who at 21 became the youngest woman ever elected to Parliament when she won the Hauraki Waikato electorate for Te Pāti Māori this month.
Hana-Rawhiti Maipi-Clarke
Evans said she and Toti (Theatre of the Impossible Trust) that organised the statue and the story board, went round in circles with the entire list and finally decided the focus was on Hamilton-Waikato.
The final list (which included Katherine O’Regan but mysteriously left off the board) was: Dame Hilda Ross, the first Māori MP – Western Māori’s Iriaka Ratana (1949-69), Dorothy Jelicich (Hamilton West 1972-75), Marilyn Waring (Waipā 1975-84), Dianne Yates (Hamilton East 1993-2008), Nanaia Mahuta (Hauraki-Waikato 1996-2023), Margaret Wilson (List – 1999-2008), Barbara Stewart (List – 2002-2008 and 2011-2017) and Sue Moroney (List – 2005-17).
Left off were: Rona Stevenson (Taupō 1963-1972), Jeanette Fitzsimons (Coromandel 1996-2010), Georgina Te Heuheu (Taupō 1996-2011), Steve Chadwick (Rotorua 1999-2011, mayor 2012-2022), Sandra Goudie (Coromandel 2002-2011, mayor 2016-2022), Louise Upston and Barbara Kuriger.
Waikato
