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Story: Women and men

Home life

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Home life

A clean, orderly home with a settled and happy family cared for by a loving mother was at the core of the ideal family many colonists tried to set up. William Bambridge drew this picture of his wife Sophia and their baby son William in his diary in June 1844.

Using this item

Alexander Turnbull Library

Reference: MS-0130-159

by William Bambridge

Permission of the Alexander Turnbull Library, National Library of New Zealand, Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa, must be obtained before any re-use of this image.

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How to cite this page

Charlotte Macdonald, Women and men – Colonial beginnings: 1840s–1880s, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/en/artwork/29202/home-life (accessed 3 June 2026).

Story by Charlotte Macdonald, published 30 March 2011, updated 1 August 2017.