Design workshop for the Kate Sheppard Memorial Enhancement Project

Te Whakaoranga is a volunteer-led project to enhance the Kate Sheppard National Memorial site in Christchurch. The project began with a group from Women in Urbanism Aotearoa, and landscape architect Katie Chilton has contributed her time and expertise to the group for several years.

The group is developing a website and other communication channels to raise awareness and support for the project and refining a concept design to improve the site surrounding the memorial without altering it.

The memorial itself is a stone aggregate wall, with a life-size bronze relief sculpture of Sheppard and five other women's suffrage leaders. Panels on either side of the sculpture depict scenes of everyday women's lives at the end of the nineteenth century, and carry text describing the struggle for women's suffrage.

Early ideas for enhancement included installing seating, elements for greater acknowledgement of wāhine Māori suffragists in the suffrage story, a more meaningful design for the surrounding landscaping and constructing more inviting pathways into the site.

Katie invited engagement specialist Dr Anne Cunningham and landscape architect Cathy Challinor, who was design lead for the Passchendaele Memorial Garden and the Puhi Kai Iti Cook Landing Memorial, to facilitate a design workshop and help progress and refine a concept for the next steps.

Q: What was the high point of the workshop for you?

Katie Chilton (KC): I love being involved in a collaborative workshop with a bunch of like-minded women with a real sense of energy and purpose. For those of us who’ve been with the project for some time, it was heartening to hear that they think the site and memorial is worth focusing on and elevating as much as we do.

Cathy Challinor (CC): Hearing from a group of experts, thinkers and movers in Ōtautahi and learning more about what they have done up to this point, and where we can go next. As a designer, that energy and sharing of knowledge is very inspiring.

Anne Cunningham (AC): I enjoy facilitating projects like this, and the opportunity to bring together a group of women to consider ‘what next’ for universal suffrage – and how this place does its part – is very rewarding. Working together with colleagues and discovering how passionate we all are about this place; and having great chats about how design and engagement complement each other.

Q: What do you see as the biggest challenges?

CC: Recognition and inclusiveness, are the first words that come into my mind. I wonder about the ‘real-world’ challenges that these projects invariably face: time and money, seeing and being seen – it’s a mirror of our lives.

AC: The project itself is an example of suffrage — we're working together and making a plea for a place to be cared for and updated. Ironic, isn't it?

KC: Continuing and building the momentum of a group of volunteers is something that needs constant encouragement. That's important at this stage, along with practical things like opening up the site and increasing the memorial's prominence so it can be acknowledged.

Q: What’s happening next?

AC: Right now, we need to be pragmatic – taking the insights and ideas from the group and working out what is most useful to do and what will have the most impact, within the constraints of a small project.

KC: In terms of the design, it’s about developing a concept vision, because that’s a key part of starting the fundraising journey and getting the financial backing and public enthusiasm we need to actually build something and make a difference.

CC: The next step is moving from talking to taking action and turning our ideas into something tangible that can move the process forward. Stepping into the breach with bravery and intelligence, I hope!