South of Martinborough

South of Martinborough: Two Soldier Settlements and their Neighbours tells the absorbing story of the First and Second World War settlements at Tuturumuri and Tora, and neighbouring properties, and the challenges facing the South Wairarapa district’s pioneering farmers and fishers, as well as developments over the years since.

In the late 1990s, Danna Glendining began asking residents who had grown up and worked in the district to record memories of their lives from the 1920s to the present. After she and husband John left their Tuturumuri farm for the Waikato in 2000, boxes of precious recollections remained at the Wairarapa Archive until Diane Grant took up the challenge to further research and write the book.

Largely a book about the importance of people and their relationship with the land, the story is told in their own words through diaries, memoirs and interviews from the 19th century to today, bringing them and their times to life. It is the fascinating story of a microcosm of New Zealand society.

Diane Grant, a partner in Fraser Books, was a pre-school, primary, secondary, and university extension teacher and also national president of SPELD (Specific Learning Difficulties Association). Like Danna Glendining, she had major roles in the Women’s Electoral Lobby (WEL). In 2001, Diane Grant received the ONZM for her work in the community