Mary Anne Barker - Station Amusements In New Zealand (1/17) A Bush Picnic

STATION AMUSEMENTS IN NEW ZEALAND..... Is a collection of vignettes about life on a sheep station (high country farm) in colonial New Zealand during the 1860s and is a further embellishment of events presented in Mary Anne Barker’s first book "Station Life in New Zealand". Mary Anne Barker and her husband Frederick Broomie lived at their sheep station “Broomielaw” under the foothills of the Southern Alps of Canterbury, New Zealand for three years from 1865 – 1868. Mary Anne Barker wrote in Chapter I: “I purpose therefore in these sketches to describe some of the pursuits which afforded us a keen enjoyment at the time, --an enjoyment arising from perfect health, simple tastes, and an exquisite climate.” AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY..... Mary Anne Barker, Lady Barker (January 29, 1831 – March 6, 1911), later Mary Anne Broome, Lady Broome, was an English author. She wrote mainly about life in New Zealand. Born Mary Anne Stewart in Spanish Town, Jamaica, she was the eldest daughter of Walter Steward, Island Secretary of Jamaica. She was educated in England, and in 1852 married Captain George Robert Barker of the Royal Artillery, with whom she had two children. When Barker was knighted for his leadership at the Siege of Lucknow in 1857, Mary Anne became "Lady Barker". Eight months later Barker died. On 21 June 1865, Mary Anne Barker married Frederick Napier Broome. The couple then sailed for New Zealand, leaving her two children in England. The couple's first child was born in Christchurch in February 1866, but died in May. By this time, they had moved to the sheep station Steventon, which Broome had partnered with H. P. Hill to buy. They remained there for three years; they lost more than half their sheep in the winter of 1867, and in response Broome sold out and the couple returned to London. Both Mary Anne and her husband then became journalists. Still calling herself "Lady Barker", Mary Anne Broome became a correspondent for The Times and published two books of verse: Poems from New Zealand (1868) and The Stranger from Seriphos (1869). In 1870, she published Station Life in New Zealand, a collection of her letters home. The book was successful, going through several editions and being translated into French and German. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------