The Wanaka Women’s Suffrage Committee is set to release a new collection of stories from 80 women in the Upper Clutha region. Called ‘Skirt Tales: The Sequel’, the book is being launched on July 28 with a gathering at Cinema Paradiso in Wanaka.

The original collection of stories, Skirt Tales, was the result of an idea from local woman Phyllis Aspinall and formed part of the centennial celebrations of women’s suffrage in New Zealand organised by Liz Hall for the Queenstown Lakes District Council. Now in its third edition, Skirt Tales was published in 1995 with 100 historical stories from women of the Upper Clutha.

In 2018, while celebrating the 125th anniversary of the New Zealand women’s suffrage movement, the committee comprising Liz Hall, Pam Kane, Jenny Moss, Cheryl Taylor and Dee Gordon decided it was time to publish a sequel and continue the story of local women.

Pam Kane said when planning the sequel, the committee considered which women would be interesting to know more about. 

“Everyone has a story and they got to choose what parts of their story they wanted to share,” Pam said. “Some have been here for many years, some have contributed to the community in some way and some are descendants of the women featured in the first book. Of course, since we’ve finished collating all the stories, we’ve heard of many other interesting stories which could have been included!”

A peek of the cover of Skirt Tales: The Sequel, which shares the stories of 80 further women in the Upper Clutha region.

Two people, who wish to be anonymous, underwrote the cost of printing the paperback books and Martin Fisher, from Albert Town, generously donated his time to lay out the book content and create the cover.

“These stories form an important part of recording the social history of the Upper Clutha,” Jenny Moss said. “Through these women’s stories we learn much about the past life of our community. We hope many folk will be interested in learning more about the history of our local area. 

“We have a growing number of fine young women achieving in diverse fields and we’re issuing the challenge for a new committee to record the stories of current local women in future publications. After all, 2043 will see the 150th anniversary of New Zealand women’s suffrage.”

Paperback copies of Skirt Tales: The Sequel will be available after 28 July from any of the committee members at a cost of $25.

PHOTOS: Supplied