At a church service over the weekend, locals gathered at the bronze Land Girl monument, created by former resident and sculptor Margriet Windhausen, to acknowledge her work.
The Land Girl was unveiled in October 2022, to honour the Women’s Land Service members, "land girls" who worked on farms during World War 2.
The small ceremony, which included open air opera from soprano Ramonda Taleni, followed a tribute paid to Windhausen in Christchurch a week earlier, when her 1993 Kate Sheppard National Memorial to Women’s Suffrage was entered on the New Zealand Heritage List Rārangi Kōrero as a Category 1 historic place.
Organiser Fiona, Lady Elworthy, said Windhausen had lived in Maungati with her family for nearly 30 years, before moving to Lower Hutt in 2015.
Her works featured in a number of public spaces in South Canterbury, including the Bob Fitzsimmons bronze at Strathallan Corner, The Face of Peace on Caroline Bay, the Jack Lovelock statue at Timaru Boys’ High School, and busts of Admiral Sir Gordon Tait and The RT Hon Lord Elworthy near the Timaru library.
