Heritage Talk - The Women Behind the Artefacts

Stories from the Museum

Talk date: 30 May 2024.

The Whangārei Museum is a taonga, housing artefacts with fascinating backstories. In this talk, Zana Bell looks at three extraordinary women whose belongings are in the museum's collection.

There is the writing turret of Jane Mander, whose books gained an international acclaim, though they were considered risqué in New Zealand for she dared to write about ‘the Sex thing’.

The medical bag of Eleanor McLaglan, whose autobiography Stethoscopes and Saddlebags describes her adventures as Northland’s first female doctor. The bonus is that yes, there is the saddlebag as well!

And Kitty Vane’s driving cap from the 1930s exemplifies the brio of Gilbert Mair’s daughter: artist and international traveller.  

Watch the talk on YouTube:

The Women Behind the Artefacts by Zana Bell on YouTube

Photos at top of this page, from left: Jane Mander, Eleanor McLaglan and Kitty Vane.

About Zana Bell

Zana Bell grew up in Harare, Zimbabwe and studied English Literature at the University of Cape Town. After travelling for several years doing a wide range of jobs, she immigrated to New Zealand where she now lives with her family and cats in a small harbourside community.

Zana has written six novels across a range of genres, which have all been published internationally. She has a PhD in Creative Writing and was the Academic Lead of NorthTec’s writing programmes until 2022. Non-fiction has now snagged her interest and she is currently working on a biography of Auckland’s first female doctor, Alice Horsley.