Olga Sansom’s contribution to natural science had been recognised by the Southland branch of the Royal Society of New Zealand in 1960 when it made her a life member. The Southland Museum and Art Gallery similarly honoured her in 1966. In 1973 her achievements gained international attention when she was included in the first edition of The world who’s who of women. Her services to New Zealand were acknowledged in 1979 when she received the Queen’s Service Medal.
In addition to her work for penal reform, Blanche Baughan was an outspoken opponent of capital punishment, a financial supporter of the Red Cross and a member of the Akaroa Borough Council. Baughan was recognised for her contribution to social services with the award of the King George V Jubilee Medal in 1935. For her literary work she deserves recognition for indicating new directions in the nation’s literary history and as a significant harbinger of change in early New Zealand poetry.
One of New Zealand’s most assiduous but least-remembered writers
Proficient in modern Greek, Arabic, and Syriac, she wrote a number of novels and accounts of travel. In 1892, with her twin sister, Mrs. Margaret Dunlop Gibson, she discovered in the library of the convent of St. Catherine on Mt. Sinai, the palimpsest containing the Four Gospels in Syriac, representing the oldest text known of any part of the new Testament.
Australian artist, author, disability rights activist and filmmaker
Passionate about women’s rights and the cause of peace, Vroland was also a humanitarian with strong views on the treatment of Australia’s Aboriginal population; she became one of Victoria’s leading campaigners for Aboriginal rights.
Blind song writer who wrote more than 2500 hymns besides many secular songs, cantatas, and lyrical productions of various kinds.
English critic of American domestic life
English writer, translator, and philanthropist.
English author and prolific writer of the Victorian era who produced about 120 volumes, including novels, tales, school manuals, histories and biographies.