Airini Elizabeth RHODES [31603]

   Another name for Airini was Rene.

  General Notes:

Airini Elizabeth Woodhouse QSM (née Rhodes, 8 November 1896 \endash 1989)
was a New Zealand community leader, historian, and author.

Born Airini Elizabeth Rhodes, in Dunedin, New Zealand, on 8 November 1896, she was an only child. She was educated at home by a governesses and showed an early aptitude for writing. In 1913 she attended Craighead Diocesan School in Timaru. She grew up on Blue Cliffs, Canterbury, one of her family's other sheep-stations.

She married Philip Randall Woodhouse on 22 September 1921 at Upper Otaio and then moved to Wellington. They had three children, Elizabeth, Carne, and Heaton. Her husband died on 1 October 1970, and she returned to her mother's house in Timaru.

Woodhouse joined the Red Cross during World War I and continued to work for them in World War II. She was president of the Blue Cliffs, Canterbury, sub-centre of the Red Cross during both wars, and was awarded a Voluntary Aid Detachment medal for service 1939\endash 1945.

She was elected to the Blue Cliffs parish vestry in 1927, the first year women were admitted, and remained a member until 1961.

In the late 1950s, she and her husband became interested in the Maori rock drawings found in South Canterbury and campaigned for their preservation. She was on the committee of the South Canterbury Historical Society from its inception, and chair of the South Canterbury Centennial History Committee (1954\endash 60). She also chaired the South Canterbury Regional Committee of the New Zealand Historic Places Trust from 1959 to 1975. In 1965 the South Canterbury Regional Committee named a peak in the Hunters Hills range after her, Mount Airini.

In 1969 she became the first woman in New Zealand to be granted registration as an owner-classer by the New Zealand Wool Handling Committee, allowing her to put the Kiwi brand on her bales.

She was awarded a Queen's Service Medal for community service in the 1981 New Year Honours.

Published works:
Tales of pioneer women (1988)
Blue Cliffs: the biography of a South Canterbury sheep station, 1856\endash 1970 (1982)
New Zealand Farm and Station Verse 1850\endash 1950 (1967)
Blue Cliffs School and District Activities 1910\endash 1960 (1960)
Guthrie-Smith of Tutira (1959)
George Rhodes of the Levels and his Brothers (1937)
The History of the Parish of Otaio and Blue Cliffs (with J. Hay, 1930)
Bidwill of Pihautea: the life of Charles Robert Bidwill (1927)
Wikipedia

Airini married Philip Randal WOODHOUSE Dr [31602] [MRIN: 11214], son of John Frederick Churton WOODHOUSE [31600] and Edith BATHGATE [31599], on 22 Sep 1921 in Otago New Zealand. (Philip Randal WOODHOUSE Dr [31602] was born on 9 Feb 1886 in Mornington Dunedin NZ and died on 1 Oct 1970 in Timaru N.Z..)