Anna Stout was dedicated to the
advancement of women, championing calls for equal political, legal, social and
educational rights. She was particularly concerned for the education of Maori
women.
Politicians and Maori leaders ceremonially turned the ‘first sod’ of the central section of the main trunk line – a project that would take 23 years to complete.
The careers of Sir Robert Stout and Sir Julius Vogel were so closely intertwined that Stout’s governments are usually referred to as Stout-Vogel ministries. Both men started their public lives in Otago and followed similar policies.
This photo was taken to mark the digging of the first sod for the main trunk railway in Ngati Maniapoto territory, 15 April 1885. The group stands at the confiscation line at the southern bank of the Puniu River.
