HARDCOVER

GOOD CONDITION

MY FIRST EIGHTY YEARS BY HELEN WILSON

Helen Wilson achieved recognition as a leading figure in the Women's Division of the New Zealand Farmers' Union and, in later years, as a writer. She was born Helen Mary Ostler at Oamaru, New Zealand, on 4 May 1869, the eldest of three children of Emma Brignell Roberts and her husband, William Henry Ostler, a runholder. She spent most of her early childhood on Ben Ohau station in the Mackenzie Country, and was educated at home by her mother. William died on 11 May 1879 leaving his family in a precarious financial position. They moved to Timaru where Emma earned money by teaching needlework and dancing. Helen attended Timaru High School and spent a year as a boarder at Otago Girls' High School. She left at the end of 1886 in order to support her mother who was no longer finding it easy to make a living. From May 1887 until the end of 1888, though unqualified and inexperienced, she taught at the sole-charge Upper Waitohi Flat School, north of Timaru.

Chapter 1 — High Country Childhood p. 11 Chapter 2 — Widowhood in The 'Eighties p. 30 Chapter 3 — A Great Tragedy Seen from Below p. 38 Chapter 4 — Cause and Effect p. 76 Chapter 5 — Waitohi Flat p. 88 Chapter 6 — Land in the North p. 97 Chapter 7 — Levin Block p. 103 Chapter 8 — Marriage at Ohau p. 131 Chapter 9 — Levin and H. H. Ostler p. 144 Chapter 10 — Further Afield p. 167 Chapter 11 — The King Country p. 184 Chapter 21 — The Women's Division p. 200 Chapter 13 — The Slump p. 204 Chapter 14 — Gordon Coates p. 218 Chapter 15 — The Down Grade p. 225

Appendix — Sir Hubert Ostler's Reply to Farewell Speeches from Members of the Wellington Bar and Representatives of the New Zealand Law Society p. 234

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