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Story: Family violence

Family violence death

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Family violence death

This article, which appeared in the Otago Daily Timeson 4 October 1879, describes an assault that led to the death of Dunedin woman Ann Smith. The fact that she had a protection order against her former husband shows that this mechanism was used long before family protection legislation was introduced in the 1980s. It did not prevent him brutally attacking her, with fatal results.

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National Library of New Zealand, Papers Past

Reference: Otago Witness, 4 October, 1879, p. 19

Permission of the 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

Nancy Swarbrick, Family violence – Family violence in the 19th century, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/en/document/28283/family-violence-death (accessed 4 June 2026).

Story by Nancy Swarbrick, published 26 April 2011.