Eliza and Oliver were both prospering in their work at Parnell District School. Oliver was the only male on the staff, so he was the natural choice for promotion to the position of headmaster, and while he had the respect of pupils and staff, Eliza also enjoyed the genuine affection of her pupils and colleagues. As an experienced teacher, Eliza had the confidence to occasionally depart from the curriculum and introduce ideas of her own. One day, a particular day, the 6th of February, she introduced a new topic into the Social Studies syllabus. “Does anyone know what day this is?” she asked her class. There was no response beyond, It’s Monday, Miss.
“On this day in 1840, the Treaty of Waitangi was signed,” Eliza Steadman announced, “the founding document of this country, and partnership between the Queen of England and the Māori people.”
“Why did the Māoris go to war against the British?” a pupil asked.
Mrs Steadman gave a potted history of New Zealand, that was quite unlike anything the children had heard before. A treaty broken by the British. Māori forced from their land by invasion, conquest and confiscation. A war in which her own father had fought for the British, “and some of your grandfathers,” she told the class. More questions ensued, which Eliza answered as candidly as she could in simple terms that ten-year-old children could comprehend.
The upshot of the New Zealand history lesson was that some of the children asked more questions at home and parents subsequently asked questions of the headmaster concerning what sort of lessons Mrs Steadman was teaching. Oliver reprimanded Eliza for her inappropriate interpretation of New Zealand history and the controversy she’d caused, and ordered her to stick to the curriculum. It was his opinion that she had been unduly influenced by the unconventional views of her unpatriotic father.
“Unpatriotic? He may not be a patriot for Britain,” Eliza said, “but there’s no one more patriotic for this country.”
In the discussion that ensued, Oliver referred to Eliza’s father as ‘a Māori lover’.
“A Māori lover?” Eliza exclaimed. “Only a Māori hater would say that. You know we have Māori in our family. Really, Oliver, this is inexcusable.”
Oliver regretted the phrase he’d used in the heat of the argument, but there it was; he couldn’t unsay it and he knew he’d caused irreparable offence.
It was around this time that Eliza became pregnant and other disagreements arose. She and Oliver had agreed from the start on having a family together, but when the prospect of starting a family suddenly became a reality, they discovered they had differing assumptions about their future. Oliver was delighted that he would soon be a father, but less than delighted that Eliza planned to return to work after having the baby, not straight away of course, but after a decent period of leave and after the baby was weaned and could be minded by its grandparents. Oliver had envisioned a family of more children with a proper stay at home mother, not a career woman. There was really no need for Eliza to return to work. It was Oliver’s opinion that a mother’s place was in the home, and that Eliza had been overly influenced by her mother’s involvement with the likes of Amey Daldy and Kate Sheppard and ‘the women’s movement’.
For her part, Eliza had been feeling the burden, especially when she was pregnant, of working full-time and taking care of everything at home. She felt Oliver could be more helpful and suggested he take a turn at cooking meals.
“But you’re such a marvellous cook, my darling,” he said. “I could never do it as well as you.”
“You could learn to cook if you had a mind to,” she said, “instead of making excuses.”
“Cooking is a wife’s role,” he insisted, “and there’s an end to it.”
“You may be the boss at work,” she said, “but we are equals at home.”
“Of equal value, of course,” he said, “but we have different roles.”
Eliza responded with, “Your thinking is so last century…” but before she could say more, Oliver shouted, “Enough!”
“Well, I never took you for a tyrant who would forbid me to speak,” Eliza said, and left the room to avoid Oliver’s rancour. She knew the dramatic effect of a well timed exit.
In the end, to appease Eliza, Oliver agreed to her returning to work part-time, after her maternity leave. He would have her at home part-time rather than returning to her parents’ home full-time.
*
On the occasion of the turn of the century, Annie organised a family dinner on New Year’s Eve to celebrate the event. It was a happy family gathering with all the children at home, and the first grandchild. Everyone was doting on Eliza’s baby boy, none more so than the proud mother, but it seemed to Annie that Eliza and Oliver were not so much at ease with each other as they had been. Perhaps it was the strain of having a new baby in the home.
Kelly said grace when the family were all seated around the table, as always before an evening meal. He was not normally given to making long prayers or speeches but on this occasion he was moved to give thanks to the God who spared his life in battle, who brought his wife safely from the other side of the world and, while they had got off to a shaky start, the Lord had blessed them with a happy marriage and three beautiful children and a grandchild, the first of many, he hoped.
Likewise, the country had got off to a shaky start, Kelly said, but at the dawn of the twentieth century, he looked forward to a future of peace and prosperity. He went on to speak of the accomplishments of his clever children: Imogen, the talented artist, with an exhibition in the Auckland Art Gallery, and the illustrator of children’s books, written by Eliza Kelly; Eliza the talented teacher and author, and mother of the first of the next generation of the family; Charles, the skilled craftsman, builder of houses and now also draughtsman/designer of houses.
Charles had an announcement of his own. He was engaged to be married. The wedding would be in the Onehunga Saint Peter’s Anglican Church, where he’d met his fiancée, Miriam Cooper. He’d been courting Miriam for months before finally asking her father for his daughter’s hand in marriage. Her father, like Kelly, had fought for the British in the New Zealand wars, and he later joined the merchant navy. All the family were happy for Charles and full of warm congratulations.
Kelly chatted with his son-in-law, over dinner, about his work, a safe topic. Oliver was so successful in his career as a teacher that he was now a school principal. That was the way of it, Kelly thought to himself. Male teachers first in line for promotion. Clever enough at his job, he supposed, but too opinionated and he had a very one sided view of things. Oliver was all for progress and felt his father-in-law didn’t understand the times he was living in. It was Kelly’s opinion that Oliver didn’t understand the times. He kept these thoughts to himself, though, just as he made no mention of Wiremu, when enumerated the accomplishments of his children. But he was certainly proud of his other son, the successful lawyer.