1840: Auckland’s So-Called ‘First Lady’
August 24, 2018
By AHNZ
Sarah Mathew: Explorer, Journalist and Auckland’s ‘First Lady’, Tessa Duder (2015)
As best I can make from the radio piece, Sarah Mathew is not remarkable at all. So she could carry a survey chain, walk off-road, and vocation as a governess, and travel by sail boat? Even for a women that’s nothing to wonder at, especially not for the C19th!
Why this ‘first lady’ jazz and new biography? Why this new revisionist interpretation of Mrs Felton Mathew?
“I’m very happy to be adding a strong woman’s voice to the historical record which, frankly, has traditionally side-lined or ignored the female experience.”
‘Personally I think… I feel that she does deserve to be right up there.’
Answer: Because dragging up women from the past and re-imagining them as Feminist icons attracts rate-payer funding from Auckland Council¹ in its own right. Tessa Duder (author) is cashing in, hence her emphasis on feeling like Sarah was something she was not. Because apparently being a supportive wife isn’t enough of an achievement!
Click this image to listen to Podcast episode of this post
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Image ref. Sarah; Sir George Grey Special Collections
Mr and Mrs Mathew arrived in NZ, 17 March 1840
Ref. “Duder’s new book, Sarah Mathew: Explorer, Journalist and Auckland’s ‘First Lady‘, is being launched by Auckland Mayor Len Brown…Funded by Auckland Council, the biography contains new information…”; Stuff (Sep 14, 2015)
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