To provide more naming options for Dunedin’s newest streets, the Dunedin City Council proposes to add the names of nine influential New Zealand women to the Road Naming Register.

DCC Group Manager Transport Jeanine Benson says the first step to adding new names to the register starts with family/whānau consent.

“We are reaching out to family members of each of these women, asking that they come forward and approve their use. Without family consent, we cannot add these names to the register.”

The Road Naming Register is a database of potential names of influential New Zealanders that can be chosen for new road names. Adding new names to the register means they are available to be chosen when new streets are formed.

The process of having names added to the register first requires family members to approve them before they are formally presented to DCC elected members for inclusion. Family/whānau may suggest conditions on the location where the name should be used to honour the history and/or connection to the area.

Around twenty Māori naming options are currently being reviewed to be included in the register and the DCC acknowledges that there is more potential to work with mana whenua to include further options that reflect both locations and people with historical significance.

Anyone with a family connection to these women are asked to contact DCC Transport staff within the next three months on 03 477 4000 or email transport.regulation@dcc.govt.nz. If consent has not been given by family by 22 June 2023, the name will not be considered for the register.

The nine women whose names are proposed to be included in the Road Naming Register are:

1. Rachelina Hepburn Armitage (1873-1955)
2. Yvette Winifred Corlett (née Williams; 1929-2019)
3. Margaret Cruickshank (1873-1918)
4. Laura Maria Hayward (1870-1966)
5. Rachel Reynolds (née Pinkerton) (1838-1928)
6. Eileen Louise Soper (née Service) (1900-1989)
7. Mary Ann Wellbourn (1835-1918)
8. Catherine Redmayne (1825-1869)
9. Harriet Morison (1862-1925)

Notes to editors[1]

Rachelina Hepburn Armitage (née Stewart; 1873-1955)

New Zealand welfare worker and community leader. She became the first New Zealand woman to complete a degree at Oxford.

Yvette Winifred Corlett (née Williams; 1929-2019)

New Zealand track-and-field athlete. First woman from New Zealand to win an Olympic gold medal and to hold the world record in the women's long jump.

Margaret Cruickshank (1873-1918)

Second woman in New Zealand to complete a medical course and first New Zealand woman to register as a doctor in 1897.

Laura Maria Hayward (1870-1966)

Awarded the Belgian Honour medal ‘Médaille de la Reine Elisabeth’ (Queen Elisabeth of Belgium Medal) for her work with refugees in Dunedin during the First World War.

Rachel Reynolds (née Pinkerton) (1838-1928)

President of the Free Kindergarten Association. Her commitment to social justice was influential in the education field.

Eileen Louise Soper (née Service) (1900-1989)

New Zealand journalist, writer and Girl Guide Commissioner.

Mary Ann Wellbourn (1835-1918)

The first woman to go to the Gabriel’s Gully gold rush. She signed the suffrage petition for women of twenty-one years and upwards.

Catherine Redmayne (1825-1869)

One of the first music teachers in Dunedin as well as a prominent pianist and singer. She is cited as having contributed to establishing a musical community in Dunedin.

Harriet Morison (1862-1925)

Harriet was prominent in the Dunedin Tailoresses’ Union and an active supporter of the campaign for women’s suffrage. She was a founding member of the Women’s Franchise League in Dunedin.

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