At the time of her death she had reached her 89th year.
She was a daughter of the Rev Dr Thomas Burns, the first minister of the Otago Presbyterian Church, and reached the port of Otago with him in the Philip Laing on April 15, 1848.
She was thus intimately associated with the history of the settlement from its earliest moments.
[In 1856] Miss Jane Burns, as she then was, and Mr Bannerman were married.
Mr Bannerman was allotted South Otago, Catlins and adjacent districts, and until 1860 his parish extended as far as to Invercargill and Riverton.
In all the trials and hardships and memorable experiences of those early years Mrs Bannerman bore her full part and was always the loyal and undiscouraged helpmate of her husband.
They continued in the Puerua district till a buggy accident in 1884 laid Mr Bannerman aside from more active labours.
They then moved to Dunedin, where Mrs Bannerman has been living ever since.
Her husband predeceased her in 1904.
She was one whose brave, useful, and unselfish life had endeared her to a wide circle of friends.
Till failing health prevented, she was helpfully associated with many church activities and was particularly interested in promoting missionary enterprise.
She had a family of four daughters and two sons: Mrs John M. Begg, of Pukeawa; Mrs Spencer Richards, of Pukeawa; Mrs J.A. Somerville, of Waitepeka; Mrs J.R. Wilson, of Kaikorai; Mr W. Bannerman, recently retired from the Bank of New Zealand and the Rev T. Burns Bannerman.
Manor Burn waters Ida Valley
One of the most interesting schemes is that serving Ida Valley — an area, by the way, as large as the Taieri Plain and said to be as fertile.
This scheme is supplied from the Manorburn dam, an artificial lake about 12 miles up in the mountains above the head of Ida Valley.
The lake stores water from the snows that come rushing down during the summer. The water is stored within a concrete wall 110 feet high at its deepest point, and about 460ft across.
This stored water serves the only area at present completely irrigated under the schemes — one of 28,000 acres.
The construction of this large storehouse took about two years' work. At its head is a large concrete channel several miles long and wide enough to take a waggon and horses through.
Before the scheme is completed there are 70 miles of races together with flumings to be finished. Every holding to be served comprises fully 500 acres.
Renovated ‘picture ship’
The smart ferry steamer Maori, which is at present being renovated in dry at Port Chalmers, has been described as a "picture ship" by a visitor to the docks.
There is some cause for the description.
The Maori’s hull has been freshly painted in the attractive green and gold of the Red Funnel passenger liners.
The deck tints harmonise most pleasantly, and the shimmering white along the promenade decks impart a dainty sense of cleanliness while the sparkling crimson of the twin funnels gives a striking touch of brilliance to the whole colour scheme.
The Maori is scheduled to leave October 16 for Wellington to re-enter the ferry service, and her newly-installed oil-fuel equipment should eliminate old-time stokehold difficulties, and increase the popularity of this crack triple-screwed turbine steamer.
— ODT, 10.10.1923 (Compiled by Peter Dowden)
