Ellen Melville was born in Northern Wairoa in 1882. She won a scholarship to school in Auckland and began studying law at Auckland University College. She was the second New Zealand woman to be admitted to the bar. Living for many years in Epsom, in 1913 she became the first woman to be elected to a city council (Auckland), continuing as a member for 33 years. Hence the Ellen Melville Hall in central Auckland and Melville Park in Epsom. She stood unsuccessfully for Parliament nine times. She was a key figure in the revival of the feminist movement in the twentieth century.
Reference: The History of Epsom
The history of the land Sir John Logan Campbell gifted to the nation in 1901 through his creation of the Cornwall Park Trust Board is well known. The story of his generous gift is intimately bound up with the unfolding development of Epsom as colonial Auckland’s richest farming area and the underlying alienation of the Auckland isthmus from the tangata whenua.
Reference: The History of Epsom
Local government leader, mayor, company director, philanthropist, Oliver Nicholson was a forceful character endowed with a genuine vision and an ability to convince. He was seen as a philanthropist in the sense of a willingness to commit both effort and resources to worthy causes. He is particularly remembered as the founder of modern Mount Eden and its first Mayor.
Reference: The History of Mt Eden
Mary was a teacher at a small Auckland private school in 1895 when she and her sister Kate, a governess, were approached to set up a school of their own. Together with a third sister Alice, from Dunedin, the women founded Mount Eden College commonly known as Miss Bews’ or Bews’ College which later transferred to Epsom to become St Cuthbert’s College.
References: The History of Mt Eden and The History of Epsom