1893 Women's Suffrage Petition

[3] The main petition had more than 500 individual sheets joined together to form a roll which stretched more than 270 metres (890 ft).

When Sir John Hall submitted the petition to Parliament on 28 July 1893, Parliamentary staff unwound a section of the roll, extending it to the whole length of the debating chamber.

[5] Politicians John Hall, Alfred Saunders, and Premier John Ballance were all in favour of women's suffrage, but the effort was largely led by the New Zealand branch of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union led by Kate Sheppard from 1887.

The petition is on display at the National Library of New Zealand in Wellington as part of the He Tohu exhibition.

It remains, however, under the care of the Chief Archivist and Archives New Zealand.