One way to immortalize history- Wellington!
By Katie McLellan
Instagram: @kayteemarie26
Wellington, New Zealand, loves to celebrate people, in some cool quirky ways! Here’s one way they did it…..they put them onto their Wellington signs. They are a good way to start a conversation and to keep history alive. When I take friends on walking tours I always include them. I’ll go through a few of my favorites here.
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Wellington Signs: Cuba Street: Carmen
Cuba Street is the quirkiest Street in Wellington! It’s got Op shops, cafes, bars, and a rainbow crossing to celebrate the LGBT+ community. So, it would only seem the right place to showcase the Carmen Rupe pedestrian light. Carmen was one I wasn’t familiar with until I did my research and WOW she was interesting.
Carmen had a colorful life in the 1970s. She was a stripper, an advocate for gay rights and she also ran for mayor in 1977! Carmen campaigned for hotel bars to be open until midnight or even 2 a.m. and for the drinking age to be lowered to 18. She wanted prostitution to be made legal, abortion to be decriminalized and homosexual acts to be decriminalized. As well as, sex education in schools for 14-year-olds and nudity on some beaches – all of which are now legal!
New Zealand has always been progressive and for this to be put in place in the 1970s is something New Zealand should be proud of. Carmen Rupe’s light was unveiled on Cuba Street on the 30th Anniversary of Homosexual Law Reform Bill in August of 2016.
Wellington Sign: Kate Shepherd
Now to the Beehive…AKA Parliament!
As you take a stroll towards the government buildings, you will see a lady on the pedestrian lights- this is Kate Shepherd. Kate was involved in women’s suffrage and was a part of the Woman’s Christian Temperance Union (WCTU) where she became the National Superintendent for Franchise and Legislation in 1887. She used this position to advance the cause of women’s suffrage in New Zealand. She would hold protests and public meetings to promote woman’s suffrage, write letters and develop contacts with politicians.
Kate Shepherd became the editor of the first women’s only newspaper called ‘The White Ribbon’. She would write very persuasive articles promoting women’s suffrage and create pamphlets outlining ten reasons why women should be allowed to vote! Through this work, she started a petition which gained 30,000 signatures to take to parliament to end women’s suffrage, which led to New Zealand becoming the first country to establish universal suffrage 1883.
In other words, she’s the coolest, so we celebrate her work, her life, her courage and we say thank you every day.
Booking.comWellington Street Sign: Kapa Haka Competition called Te Matatini
The Maori tribes hold a competition called Te Matatini the translation means ‘Many Faces’ every two years. In 2019, Wellington was the host of the competition. Many tribes compete in Te Matatini including group performances, a dance, a chant, poi, and others. This competition is about celebrating culture, beauty, and other core Maori values. The Kapa Haka is about celebrating Maori identity which contributes to why New Zealand is so unique. The competition attracts over 30,000 people from around New Zealand and overseas. I feel it’s only right that Wellington celebrates such a prominent part of the culture by immortalizing it in a pedestrian crossing and one of the coolest Wellington signs.
Learn more about the Maori people- here!
This is just a small part of why I love Wellington and there will be more to come. I hope this gives you a view of how Wellington is such an accepting, quirky, unique city with so much to offer and celebrate. Stay tuned for more of why Wellington is is the coolest little capital city!
Check out some of Katie’s other stories HERE!
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This is exactly how I love to travel! Seek out the quirky and explore from there. Thank you for this great idea. If I ever go to Wellington, you can bet that I’ll be following this Wellington sign tour. I really want to know more about the stripper who ran for mayor! Thanks for this post.
That’s such a clever way to celebrate those people! I especially liked the suffragette 🙂
What that is the coolest thing ever! I’ve never see this in any city but now I need to do my research when I visit new places!
This is an awesome post! I have never seen this done elsewhere. What a fantastic way to teach people about the culture in your home area. Instantly brings up discussion and creates signs that are unique and fun to look at! Pretty awesome!
This is so cool! I went to Wellington and never noticed these haha! Kate Shepherd looks like Mary Poppins haha!!
Aw this is so fun!!! I love it! I cannot wait to go back to New Zealand!!!! 😊💜
Wow. Great information. I would love to visit New Zealand
Haha I’ve never seen anything like this! It is definitely really quirky.
Wow I’ve never seen anything like this before. Love it. So quirky and different 🙂 It’s the little things in life!
What a cool way to remember important people in history! I love how subtle it is but still interesting.
This is so great. What a way to recognize women. Love it.
These signs are so fun! This really is a great way to celebrate people who made a difference. If I ever get to visit Wellington, I’m going to keep an eye out for them.
This is amazing! Love it!
I noticed these when I visited Wellington but I never found out what they were about! Thanks for this post, I now love Wellington even more for this 🙂
I’ve never been to New Zealand, but it would be amazing to visit and take pics of these crazy cool traffic lights. That’s very unique and looks very cool!
Wow, that’s so cool and creative, I love it! I never thought I’d say that about traffic lights lol. I will keep that in mind for when I make it to Wellington. I wish more places would have cooler traffic lights!
Ha, that is too cool! I’m so glad I know this now. Otherwise, when I’d visit NZ I probably wouldn’t have had looked closer into it!
Love a place with cool history! Really want to visit New Zealand!
This is so interesting! Love how they integrated their local history (including indigenous people) into their signage. What a great way to get people investigating and learning about the history of New Zealand.
What a fun way to learn about history…love this! Quirky, engaging and memorable!
This is actually really, really cool. I never knew these things existed and now think the whole world should be on board with it!
Greetings! Very useful advice within this article!
It’s the little changes that will make the largest changes.
Many thanks for sharing!
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