‘Dorothy Johnson of Christchurch’, a contribution to Seeking a New Land: Quakers in New Zealand, edited by James Brodie and Audrey Brodie, The Peachtree Press, Wellington, 1993.
What do we remember and perceive from this distance in time?
This memoir will set down the facts of Dorothy's background first, and then go on to assess her as a person both through the eyes of her friends and aquaintances and of her family. The objective will be to establish Dorothy as a person in the environment in which she grew up and matured rather than dwell on any particular aspect of her life.
Dorothy came of Devon stock though her family had been living in London before they emigrated to New Zealand in 1900. [Her parents are identified in Figure 1.]
Her father was a butcher by trade and may have been helped to emigrate by W & R Fletchers (Vesteys), his first employer in New Zealand.
Dorothy herself remembered the end of the Boer War as their ship was anchored in Cape Town.
The precise dates are not certain but the family remembers that Mr Timewell had a butcher's shop in Devonport; they lived at 50 Church St.; and later had a butcher shop in Whangarei. In the mid-thirties Wreford Timewell was Mayor of Whangarei.
Dorothy's sisters and brothers settled in the Auckland area, except for Norah who went to live in Sydney (Mrs Cunningham), and Kathleen (Mrs Reg Newton) who married a returned serviceman farmer and settled near Te Kuiti in the 1920s.
Dorothy must have finished her primary education in Devonport and she herself records that she gained entry to Auckland Girls Grammar School through a scholarship in 1904 at a time when secondary education was not free. In 1907 Dorothy won a senior scholarship which presumably entitled her to continue at Auckland Grammar.
She records that she was unsuccessful at the Junior University Scholarships in 1909, and that she became a Pupil Teacher in 1910. She passed a D Certificate in 1910 and a C Certificate in 1911. In 1912 she was admitted to Auckland Teacher's College as a trainee (apparently for one year) as she was teaching at the Queen Victoria School for Maori Girls in 1913.
These facts suggest that Dorothy's family were not particularly supportive of higher education and possibly that at this period they were not well off enough to support Dorothy. As Dorothy's education took her away from her family they appear to play a lesser role in her life than if she had stayed in the Auckland area.
In spite of her earlier failure, Dorothy won a scholarship to Otago University in 1914 to study Home Science. She completed the degree of B.H.Sc. in 1916. She remembers the stern Scottish professors of that day teaching physics, chemistry and biology and appears to have received a very thorough training in the basic sciences as well as home science. Some of the laboratories were housed in a tin shed which apparently survived long after her time at Otago. There are photos of the "old tin shed" and the family have a tape recording made in later life recording her impressions of this period.
During this period, Dorothy met her future husband John Johnson, who like her was a student teacher who was paying his own way through Otago University studying economics. His background was strictly non-conformist, his father having been an early immigrant to New Zealand around 1862. His father´s brother, Samuel Johnson, arrived on the Matilda Wattenbach in 1863 and went with ‘the Albertlanders’ to Kaipara Harbour for a period. John's mother was a Danish maidservant in Government House who had married Thomas Johnson somewhat later in his life. John and his sister Hannah were born in the mid 1880's.
It seems clear that the period 1914 to 1916 was a very stimulating time in both Dorothy's and John´s lives. There was the communality of student life at Otago, their common Christian beliefs and associations, and their many friends and aquaintances who were studying theology, medicine and dentistry at the time.
Knox College — where John was a tutor for a time — clearly provided a focal point for these activities. As a child I remember the Knox College tea service presented to my parents sitting in its cabinet but never used.
John Johnson enlisted in the army in 1915 and was away from New Zealand until 1919 when he was invalided home from France with suspected Tb.
In the meantime Dorothy had taken a job at Napier Girls High School and found herself planning and equipping the first science laboratories at the school. The knowledge imparted by the Scottish professors turned out to be useful. Presumably Dorothy was supporting herself at this time.
In 1919 she returned to Auckland to teach at Auckland Girls Grammar School, and on the 9th June 1919 Dorothy married John at Holy Trinity Church, Devonport. They then set out for Dunedin where he had a job offer in adult education at the University of Otago.
She obtained a job under Dr Malcolm in the Physiology Department of the University Medical School in which it was proposed to carry out an analysis of indigenous New Zealand foods starting with fish. As a result of this work two papers were published in the Transactions of the New Zealand Institute (later the Royal Society).
In June 1921 Wreford Neil Johnson was born and Dorothy's working life came to an end for the time being. In 1926 John accepted a position as an adult education tutor at Canterbury University and the family (now consisting of 3 boys) moved first to a rented house in St Albans and then to the Pascoe house on Clifton Hill in Sumner which they bought.
Two more boys were born and the family settled down to educational demands, a tiring job one hour's tram ride away, and a lack of ready income due to the cuts in salaries instituted by the Forbes government. John Francis was enrolled at Friends School in Wanganui in 1935, Eric and Robin in 1937 and Thomas in 1939. In due course all the boys passed through Christchurch Boys High School.
In 1937 John was awarded a Carnegie Fellowship to study adult education in the United States. Money was borrowed to allow Dorothy to accompany him and the boys were placed with friends and sent to boarding school. John and Dorothy attended the World Conference of the Society of Friends at Swarthmore College and travelled to England on the Queen Mary. Dorothy recalls that they looked for her childhood home but could not find it. John had wanted to stay in England in 1919 after the war to further his studies but his ill-health prevented this.
This visit was no doubt arranged by Professor Shelley, the head of the Education Department at Canterbury University to whom John was responsibIe. On the return from the United States Professor Shelley had moved to Wellington to be head of the Broadcasting Service and his place was taken by Professor Field.
With other changes in adult education taking place, the latter had a different view from Shelley and began to make John's life very uncomfortable; the upshot of this was that John resigned from the University in 1940 and sought employment elsewhere. From then until his retirement in 1950 he had several jobs in secondary schools finishing up with the Correspondence School in Wellington.
Dorothy stressed that she was asked to take up her next two offers of employment. These marked her return to the work force and second period of professional work.
In 1938 she was asked to teach home science at Avonside Girls High School in Christchurch, concentrating on the top forms and including the subject area ‘diet of the pre-school child’. In 1939 she moved to Christchurch West High School with similiar duties. She mentions working with boys classes and the staff of the woodwork class to furnish and decorate a model room.
Her next step, in 1940, was to apply for and obtain an appointment as Tutor-Organiser for rural women's education with Auckland University. This appointment was to cover the province of Auckland.
The post had been established in conjunction with Country Womens Institutes, the Womens' Division of Federated Farmers and the National Council of Women. Dorothy stayed in this post until some time in 1943 when she returned to Clifton to look after the secondary schooling of the two younger boys.
Of this period she notes that her job directions included elements of sex education and that she first tried it out in a sole charge school in the country. She met the mothers after the school session to have the process explained to them.
This was clearly a very demanding job, involving a great deal of travel, absence from Clifton for a long period, but nevertheless very innovating. Many people benefitted from her courage and willingness to bring something extra to their lives.
The author was later to benefit from this work when he visited one of the host farms in the Bay of Plenty in the early 1950s.
“My parents in Edgecumbe were involved with the WEA in those years. Dorothy used to stay at our house on her visits. My parents found her a breath of fresh air and a great change from breaking in a farm on the Rangitaiki Plains. It meant a great deal to them and they felt, as I do, that it was a privilege to have her in the house and to know her.”
Helen Lewis nee McLean
By this time Dorothy's family had spread its wings. John was teaching in Oamaru and then in Wellington. Neil was working on a farm at Hamner after registering as a concientious objector; John F was working as a cooper in Christchurch and then for the Ministry of Works at Hundalee also after registering as a concientious objector; Eric finished secondary school and started a fishing career in Lyttelton, while Robin and Thomas were brought home from Friends' School to live at Clifton and finish secondary school.
The home at Clifton was maintained throughout this period though not everybody could be there at any one time. It was a period of uncertainty for the family due to the war mainly but also due to the exigencies of earning a living in what was by now a hostile employment environment. In 1944 the Friends Ambulance Unit recruited Neil and John Francis to serve for two years service in China.
Dorothy took a new lease on life after this. In 1945 she was appointed to the first group of rural sociologists in the Department of Agriculture.
The Rural Development Division had been created in 1944 with the intention of developing a broad based service agency for rural people including adult education and social research. In this capacity Dorothy travelled throughout Canterbury and the West Coast working with Countrywomens' groups, servicing the Department's winter schools, broadcasting and writing for the Journal of Agriculture. The Rural Sociology section established the Country Girls' Clubs' movement in this period.
Dorothy's booklet ‘The Child and his Family’ was first published in the Journal and later reprinted twice. The experience with Country Girls' Clubs was written up by Rosemary Craven for a social work thesis at Victoria University.
“There is a framed photograph in my dining room taken by Dorothy's grandson. It shows Dorothy and two of her great-grandchildren, a toddler and a preschooler, at a kitchen table. The two children are fully absorbed together in an experiment, it seems, to do with their eyes. Equally absorbed Dorothy looks on with pleasure. This a clear depiction of the value Dorothy gave to the child's development through play and to the encouragement of a child's own powers of observation. Remembering Dorothy, such phrases come to mind as enquiring mind, breadth of interest, dry humour, and justifiable pride in overcoming early difficulties and in her achievments. She enjoyed life and was determined to live it to the full. My impression remains that Dorothy´s contribution has not been sufficiently recognised by society in general”.
Rosemary Craven
“I once heard Dorothy describe herself as ‘a second generation pioneer’ — how true! Enterprise, ambition, hard work, and the vision to open up and succeed in new fields. One of the first Home Science graduates, nutrition worker when few had even heard of nutrition as a science, teacher in a girls' school insisting on a properly equipped laboratory for her science students, innovative adult education educator, broadening the horizons for town and country women, struggling for equity of treatment and recognition against the male bastions of the Department of Agriculture. One who combined marriage, motherhood and career long before this was generally accepted — or acceptable, trying out every new hearing aid, refusing to let her disability prevent full participation in career, community service, church and family. Role model, mentor and friend — how many lives she touched and enriched?.”
Norma Taylor nee Metson, Rural Sociologist
Dorothy retired in 1951 on turning 60. She notes it was due to the change of government at the time! It would be more fair to say that the demands of work were very onerous and the public service was not the ideal place in which to express one's own ideas and views. It is recorded elsewhere that the Rural Sociology section was going through an identity crisis of its own in this period [Carter book] and Dorothy may have just had enough.
In 1951 Clifton was sold to Neil, and John and Dorothy moved to 262 Main Road, Moncks Bay. This was a delightful old stone house in the corner of the bay with good views of the estuary of the Avon and Heathcote Rivers. Here the hospitality that had started at Clifton in the thirties was continued and Dorothy could look back at what she had accomplished over her busy and varied life.
“Although I was an infant when I first met Dorothy at Sumner we didn't become friends until 1968 when my husband and I, with our two young children, came to Christchurch on leave from California. Dorothy and John had moved by then to Monck's Bay. Their beautiful sheltered home under the cliff by the sea was full of books, pamphlets, striped Indian Madras covers, bright cushions and good old wood — warm, welcoming, assured. After twenty years overseas I had need of the sense of place (allied with the widest mental vistas) that John and Dorothy provided. Dorothy was sensitive to need and generous and unassuming in her response. Learning that I was nervous when doing large-scale entertaining she wrote out by hand, in her clear distinctive writing, several pages of delectable, yet simple and frugal. recipes which she had herself developed in earlier years. I use them still — especially the moussaka! In 1973 we were again on leave, this time in Wellington, and Dorothy, now a widow, came often to visit. She was a wonderful companion, eager for new knowledge and ideas and generous in sharing her own accumulated wisdom. Her laughter was frequent and infectious — her deafness (so nobly borne) immaterial. She liked sitting with a cup of tea in the sun to discuss things and to be in the garden — indeed the sun shone through her in those days.”
Alison Rayner-Hooson
John's health declined in these years and he died at the age of 81 in 1968. In 1971 the house was sold and Dorothy went to live in a flat with son Eric at 24 Stoke St Sumner. In 1977 Dorothy booked herself into Cavell House in Head St Sumner where she died at the age of 88 on the 26th of July 1980.
“Dorothy Johnson, one of the graduates of the School of Home Science, University of Otago, greatly valued being made a life member of the Association of Home Science Alumnae, New Zealand [in 1991]. I believe this was because she so fully embraced, both in theory and in practice, the scientific, psychological and sociological concepts embodied in the disciplines included in the four year degree course. Dorothy considered that professional work, especially teaching in its many forms, of prime importance to women while still acknowledging their vital role in family life. She was herself a gifted teacher and an able writer. Her professional papers, gathered over a lifetime of teaching, writing and continuing study, were a vital part of her life. She was generous and enthusiastic in her support of younger colleagues, including myself. She quickly established rapport with people of all ages as she had a deep interest in others and their aspirations. Her sense of humour and fun, her lively mind and her continuing interest in the world about her made her a valued friend to those fortunate enough to know and love her.”
Mary Small
Due to her deafness, Dorothy had a long association with the League for the Hard of Hearing. She went through many hearing aids of varying efficiency and noises off. She was forever testing her batteries.She experimented with all types of hearing aid that became available and no doubt helped others in this way. [was she an office bearer in the League?]
Dorothy was the Quaker representative on the National Council of Churches in the 1950s and 1960s and was first lay vice-president of the Council. She was the Council representative on the Maori section of the NCC. Tom Johnson recalls that her Maori name was ‘Kuia-koi’ which translates as sharp old lady! Dorothy expressed her own views on these activities in the following way:
“To me working with and among members of other churches is just the chance of showing the validity of the Quaker point of view, especially the emphasis on the Spirit or the Inward Light. Enabled by the spirit I seek to recognise the Spirit in others, not misled by the different garments and beliefs in which it is expressed, nor desiring to impose my pattern as a condition of unity. I find it an enriching experience to discuss current religious matters and problems, making decisions with able, dedicated people of very different. backgrounds and training. I find it also that the development of my understanding and friendship with other members of the executive, month by month, brings a first-hand experience of unity, a prophetic realisation in miniature of the Council's purpose”.
quoted from; ‘What 'C'anst Thou Say?’
Dorothy was on the Committee of Friends School in the 1940s and 1950s, though long after, her sons had finished their education there. With some courage she took part in the decision to sell the school to the Social Welfare Department in the 1960s.
Dorothy was brought up as an Anglican but joined the Society of Friends along with John in 1936. In her Testimony this significant change is well brought out:
“...the Society ... is my home. It contains my chosen and beloved family”.
It was her second and larger family, in fact, where she felt secure, enjoyed the experiences of worship and work, the intellectual stimulation of reading, study and discussion and the delight when travelling overseas, in the United States at Friends World Conference in 1937, and later again in India. To this could be added the pleasure she gained from and the contribution she made to the Annual General Meetings and summer gatherings of the Society of Friends.
Meeting for Worship was a priority for her; she loved coming, and attended regularly until three weeks before she died. How many times did she bring new life and depth to worship, often with a quotation from her recent reading and her reflection on it?.
With her Anglican background, her scientific training, her wide religious and philosophical reading, her extensive circle of friends, Dorothy had a truly catholic faith. She longed that the Society of Friends should be open and accepting and appreciative of the different gifts and practices of other denominations of the Christian Church.
Her ability to befriend others and to bring them out of themselves was well known:
(Testimony)
“Friendship with Dorothy was a significant experience for a number of people of all ages and conditions. For each she meant something very special and personal. She was genuinely interested in each person, and in loving relationship applied her keen mind and close observation to helping people to gain fresh insight — many young people in growing up had their special relationship with Dorothy.”
(Phyllis Short, Testimony)
And from Wanganui:
“She loved and enjoyed her books, her pictures, her garden, her clothes, and it was very hard for her to grow old, to lose her mobility, her capacity to read for sustained periods, to write, to attend the lectures and concerts which gave her so much pleasure, or to visit far afield. How wonderful that it was made possible for her to visit the Settlement so shortly before she died ....... She was constant in giving of herself, tier time, her attention, her keen mind, her love to people; and she enjoyed them.”
(Testimony)
Tom Johnson's memories are of papers and still more papers:
“There were just miles and miles of it, on book shelves, window sills, in boxes, under beds, stuffed in corners behind chairs, in the spare bedrooms, down the length of the hall and all of it carefully packed and labeled denoting either John or Dorothy. If anything ever happened to this paper, being knocked over, the wind or cat getting at it, or someone just commenting on it caused no end of upheaval ... It seemed as if their life blood was wrapped up in these papers, and there was unfinished work to bring their endeavours to fruition.”
The questions were posed at the beginning of this memoir. The author sees in this manuscript a picture of migrant families from the old world coming to terms with the new world and the new colony. Particularly evident is the thrust toward higher education from people with a relatively humble background. Both John and Dorothy also provided for their own education; their families contributed little. Secondly we see the strong non-conformist streak in the two families coming to a head in the full blossom of Quakerism. Although the people concerned remain imprisoned in the conventions of their age and background. They were in the vanguard of the most progressive and liberal parts of society of their time.
The importance of family appears crucial at certain stages of their lives and on Dorothy's part at least there is an an extension of family to the Society of Friends. Dorothy was separated from her own extended family early in life and yet wanted to return to it. She had a strong partnership with John as shown by her dedication of “What Canst Thou Say” to him. In many ways he was the leader in their mission in life and she was the follower.
Let us leave the last word to Dorothy. She laid particular stress on her need to win scholarships to gain higher education; on her science background (unique in her generation); on being asked to take up secondary school teaching again; on the importance of early sex education; and her questioning attitude to religion.
Truly a woman in advance of her time!
(1920), ‘The Food Values of New Zealand Fish: Part I’, Transactions of the New Zealand Institute, 52, 20–26.
(1921), ‘The Food Values of New Zealand Fish: Part IT’, Transactions of the New Zealand Institute, 53, 472–478.
(1946a) ‘What Drastic Rationing Really Means’, New Zealand Journal of Agriculture, 72, 215–219.
(1946b) ‘Vitamins are Essential for Health’, New Zealand Journal of Agriculture, 72, 437–439.
(1946c) ‘The Body's Need of Mineral Salts, Water and Fibre’, New Zealand Journal of Agriculture, 72, 535–539.
(1946d) ‘Proteins of Animal Origin Important in the Human Diet’, New Zealand Journal of Agriculture, 72, 319–320.
(1946e) ‘Planning Meals for Good Nutrition’, New Zealand Journal of Agriculture, 72, 621–622.
(1946f) ‘Effect of Cooking on Food Values’, New Zealand Journal of Agriculture, 73, 83–84.
(1946g) ‘Influence of Food habits’, New Zealand Journal of Agriculture, 73, 277–278.
(1948a) ‘Adapting a House to the Needs of the Family’, New Zealand Journal of Agriculture, 76, 312–313.
(1948b) ‘Extending and Modernising a Four–roomed Cottage’, New Zealand Journal of Agriculture, 76, 618–620.
(1949a) ‘Building a Child´s Personality’, New Zealand Journal of Agriculture, 78, 637–640.
(1949b) ‘Parents Role in the Childs Early Years’, New Zealand Journal of Agriculture, 78, 525–528.
(1949c) ‘How Does a Little Child Learn?’, New Zealand Journal of Agriculture, 79, 79–80.
(1949d) ‘Development of Speech’, New Zealand Journal of Agriculture, 79, 189–192.
(1949e) ‘Paper Games for Children’, New Zealand Journal of Agriculture, 79, 283–286.
(1949f) ‘Making Pictures with Paper’, New Zealand Journal of Agriculture, 79, 395–396.
(1949g) ‘Games for Playing with Babies’, New Zealand Journal of Agriculture, 79, 397–398.
(1949h) ‘Christmas Decorations’, New Zealand Journal of Agriculture, 79, 513–515.
(1949i) ‘Role of Play in Childrens Lives’, New Zealand Journal of Agriculture, 79, 603–605.
(1950a) ‘Play Equipment and Toys’, New Zealand Journal of Agriculture, 80, 83–86.
(1950b) ‘Renovating a Family Living Room’, New Zealand Journal of Agriculture, 80, 201–204.
(1950c) ‘Twin Dolls and Families of Dolls can give Meaning to a Childs' Play’, New Zealand Journal of Agriculture, 81, 84–85.
(1950d) ‘Saving Electricity in the Home’, New Zealand Journal of Agriculture, 81, 181–184.
(1951a) ‘Chinese Cookery’, New Zealand Journal of Agriculture, Part 1: 83, 69–72, Part 11: 83, 149–154, Part 111: 83, 488–489.
(1951b) ‘Uses of Scissors in the Kitchen’, New Zea1and Journal of Agriculture, 83, 413.
(1951c) ‘Chinese Dishes’, New Zealand Journal of Agriculture, 84, 344.