Being Dominican I asked Sister Winefride to tell us a little about her family and their history in New Zealand. “My father, John Morris, came out from Tyneside, England. When he arrived (at Port Chalmers) there was no one there to meet him. He had come out on a settlement scheme for farmers, arranged by the New Zealand Government. My mother, Sarah, said it was just as well it fell through, because he didn’t know one boot from the other about farming! He was a good, Catholic man, so he marched up to the Bishop’s house to see what he could do. He later became a ‘grip man’ on the trams. He always pointed me out as being “the first of the Colonials” born into the family. He would say, ‘Vera’s the first of the Colonials’, and I thought it must be something very important, so wasn’t greatly impressed when I found out what it meant. My father became a very prominent citizen of Kaikorai.” You were settled in Kaikorai (a Kaikorai girl) from the beginning? “Yes – we were eight children – four girls and four boys.” Her first four siblings, born in England, were Winnie, Mary, Mona and Jim. In her room at Sacred Heart Home, Winefride has a lovely photo of them as young children. Winefride’s other brothers, born in New Zealand, were Pat, Jack and Kevin. Winefride’s sisters all joined the Little Sisters of the Poor. Two of them left New Zealand at a very early
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