Nau mai haere mai and warm greetings parents, caregivers and whānau,

This Sunday 8th March is International Women’s Day. It is good to take a moment to think about the thousands of women who have been through this school and what they have contributed to the progression of the role of women in society. I wanted to take a moment to look at some of our graduates and staff in the very early history of the school who had so many barriers to break through.

GRADUATES

• Alice Candy (1888–1977), academic and second woman lecturer at Canterbury College
• Elsie Dohrmann (1875–1909), temperance campaigner
• Eileen Fairbairn (1893–1981), teacher, geographer and mountaineer, gifted CGHS our Bealey Crag lodge
• Helen Gibson (1868–1938), founder of Rangi Ruru Girls' School
• Mary Gibson (1864–1929), Principal of CGHS for thirty years
• Stella Henderson (1871–1926), first woman Parliamentary reporter for a major New Zealand newspaper
• Edith Searle Grossmann (1863–1931) teacher, novelist, journalist and feminist
• Elizabeth Herriott (1882–1936), academic, scientist and first woman lecturer at Canterbury College
• Margaret Lorimer (1866–1954), mountaineer and Principal of Nelson College for Girls for twenty years
• Christabel Robinson (1898–1988), teacher and established vocational guidance in the NZ education system
• Myrtle Simpson (1905–1981), notable teacher and educationalist
• Gwen Somerset (1894–1988), teacher, adult educator and writer, first woman to receive an honorary doctorate from Victoria University
• Ivy Fife (1905–1976), painter and university lecturer

STAFF

• Catherine Alexander (1863–1928), botanist, first woman to publish a paper in the Royal Society Science publication
• Kate Edger (1857–1935), first woman university graduate in New Zealand, second in British Empire, founding Principal of Nelson College for Girls
• Emily Foster (1842–1897), early principal of Christchurch Girls’ High School
• Christina Henderson (1861–1953), science and maths teacher, feminist, social reformer and editor, suffragette, foundation member National Council of Women
• Leila Hurle (1901–1989), teacher, Headmistress of Timaru Girls’ High School
• Stephanie Young (1890–1983), educationalist, reformer, Headmistress St Margaret’s College

This is only a selection of women associated with our school in its early years and who forged the way for many of the freedoms and rights we now enjoy as females. These women will not necessarily have set out to become trailblazers but valued education, followed their convictions, took opportunities as they came and had the courage to challenge the status quo. They were forerunners of the feminist movements of the later twentieth century which further transformed rights for women in the social, political and economic arenas.

As students of the school, your daughters belong to a long line of feminist tradition. This is their tūrangawaewae – a place to stand proud, belong and draw strength from, to take with them through life. On March 8, we encourage our girls to think about the women who have gone before at this school and what their contribution will be to the story of women in Aotearoa.

Ngā mihi nui

Christine O’Neill