North Otago: Stories of People and Places $30 from the school office - all proceeds to the school.

Violet Monteath-Walker, nee Feathers, was a former student of Waitaki Girls' High School and published some 60 articles in various newspapers between 1950 and 1991.  These were mainly describing historical aspects of Oamaru and North Otago in the 19th century.

Her writing gives an informed glimpse into the lives of immigrants to New Zealand in the 19th century.  She describes how difficult life was for many in the early years of European immigration, particularly for women.  Many who came to New Zealand were escaping from poor living conditions in the big cities in both England and Scotland.  But crowded cities were replaced by isolation in an alien but beautiful land.