Defining Diva

When you think of the word diva, a few big names might come to mind. But in this episode, we dare our kaimahi to go into the archives and find us a forgotten diva. Someone who may not be a household name, but stood their ground, owned their talents, and left a lasting legacy -whether or not the world was watching.

Episode Transcript

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Gabriel Tongaawhikau 0:02This podcast is brought to you by Tāmaki Paenga Hira Auckland War Memorial Museum,

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Steph Strock 0:24What is a diva? You might think of someone glamourous and demanding, a superstar whose contract stipulates that their green room is set to a specific 25 degrees, someone who outlaws eye contact from lowly commoners or decrees that they have their MnMs all individually sorted by color.
But when they step onto the stage, the diva makes an impact. A diva is bold, a defining icon of their time. In Latin, it literally means goddess. We've been thinking a lot about divas at the Museum lately, what makes a diva and who's worthy of the title? We're not altogether sure it's a bad thing. Maybe it's even something to be reclaimed, reformulated, revered. So today, we're redeeming divadom, turning diva on its head as a badge of honour.
Kia ora. I'm Steph Strock, your host for this episode of The Amp, the podcast from Auckland Museum that amplifies the incredible stories from our collections, our mahi and our place in the Pacific.
This episode, we're turning the spotlight on the diva. We've challenged our kaimahi to go into the archives and find us their diva. A diva whose legacy has been lost to time, but is still worthy of remembering.
First up Sophie Elborough from the Online Cenotaph team.
Sophie Elborough 2:14I would define a diva as someone who has a really strong sense of self, who embodies glamour and talents, not just on stage, but in their daily lives. They're often trailblazers who push boundaries and constantly demonstrate their strength and attitude, always remaining staunch in who they are and what they want.
Kia ora, my name is Sophie Elborough, and I'm the Online Centotaph Collection Technician, Research Support.
My diva is Nola Luxford She was the perfect diva. Nola became a trailblazing actress, writer and broadcaster, whose innovation and talent for fundraising during World War Two meant that she was dubbed the angel of the Anzacs. She originally lived in Hastings, New Zealand, and then ended up leaving for the glitter and glamour of Hollywood, California during the 1920s when the city was basically at the peak of its dominance as the film capital of the whole world.
Steph Strock 3:28Glamourous as her life became, it didn't start out all so glitzy.
Sophie Elborough 3:32So she was always kind of a performer from a very young age. But she did end up having to leave New Zealand in a bit of a scandal, because in 1919, her father had quite a public divorce from her mother, because he ran away with an assistant at his bookstore. And so Nola and her family faced a lot of social scrutiny and gossip. And then immediately after that, she married her first husband, who was a returned serviceman, Maurice George Luxford, and then found out he was completely penniless. So she was facing not only poverty in New Zealand, but also an enormous amount of social scrutiny. And so Maurice and Nola decided to take a trip to America. Shortly after they got married, at which point, Nola decided to stay and pursue her dreams in Hollywood.
Steph Strock 4:21Shortly after Nola and Maurice divorced. This was no small matter, far from home, and in a time where women weren't even allowed to open a bank account alone,
Sophie Elborough 4:31It was pretty crazy, and especially, I think it shaped Nola a lot, because she went on to have a few marriages in her time, and she also went through a very public divorce herself when she became a more popular figure. So after her divorce in April 1927 she married this guy called William in June 1927, and he came from a very wealthy family, so he was quite well established. They were a Baltimore brewing family, and it was during those years that Nola started to establish herself in the film industry. By 1927 you know, papers were referring to her as the sole New Zealand's screen star of Hollywood. She was definitely well known back home by this point, because it was pretty brave what she did. I think a lot of young New Zealand women were looking up to her.
Steph Strock 5:31Nola burst onto the screen. The silent film epoch was coming to an end. The talkies, or as we know them, regular movies with sound, started hitting the cinemas.
Sophie Elborough 5:43Apparently, she had a very lovely voice. A lot of the articles talk about how from a young age, she had a, they say, in that patronizing like she had a pretty face and beautiful voice. So she was perfect for radio or off the movies.
Nola Luxford 6:00Hello, New Zealand. This is Nola Luxford saying, Haere Mai Pakeha, Haere Mai Māori. I've been asked to chat to you for a few minutes, and it was suggested that I talk about some of my activities here in New York...
Sophie Elborough 6:15Nola started to get a feeling that the Great Depression was eventually going to affect the glitter and the glamour of even Hollywood film industry. And so in 1932 she pitched to a little Broadcasting Company, the NBC, the National Broadcasting Company, and said that she should be the Australian and New Zealand commentator for the Los Angeles Olympic Games, which obviously was pretty controversial, and she had to fight really hard to get the position. Women were not recognised as sports commentators at the time, people thought there was no way that the public was going to be able to listen and take seriously a woman talking about the Olympics. But she got the role, and then she was incredibly successful at it. The NBC received over 50,000 letters and telegrams, all praising her work. She was pretty incredible during this time, even though she was starting to garner all of the success in the radio world, Nola was definitely going through some personal struggles. She was struggling with a four year long very public divorce from William, which had made a lot of international headlines. She faced pretty immense scrutiny from the press. There was an article in the truth in July 1937 titled Nola Luxford preferred nightlife, says husband, in which William basically accused her of having luxurious tastes beyond even his income, and tried to make her out to be a difficult, superficial woman. All she cared about was money, basically a true diva. And then this was particularly controversial as well, because it was Nola's second divorce, and during the 1930s she kind of became framed as a symbol of everything wrong with the modern woman. She was seen as selfish and materialistic. She disobeyed societal demands to sacrifice her own interest for the benefit of her home and husband. The divorce was eventually settled in 1939 and Nola was awarded the couple's Bel Air home alongside a lump sum of $25,000 which, at the time was pretty significant.
Steph Strock 8:37We crunched the numbers, and that's about a million New Zealand dollars today.
Sophie Elborough 8:41So coming off the back of this very heated, very public divorce, that must have been really scary for her. It must have been frightening to have her life kind of put on blast. Her now ex-husband constantly talking to news reporters. They also had a big back and forth with both of them accusing each other of being physically violent towards the other, it must have felt very exposing and very personal. But despite that, she continued to make progress in her career. She was still doing very well. The same year as she was granted her divorce. In 1939 she was also hired again by NBC as one of the first woman network news announcers. So again, a pretty huge step as a trailblazer, and she actually ended up making history, because on the third of September, she was one of the first people to tell the American public that England was at war with Germany. As the war continued, she sort of continued to use her position to arrange broadcasts from servicemen to their families back home in New Zealand and Australia, which was sometimes the final message that people would ever receive from their loved ones before they went to join the front lines.
Steph Strock 10:02And her voice became a beacon for the ANZAC soldiers, half a world away from home, young Australian and New Zealand soldiers tuning into the radio found comfort in her broadcasts and soon a community.
Sophie Elborough 10:16So these two 18 year old New Zealand Air Force sergeants, they've just come down from Canada and just landed in New York. So they look for the only person they know, and it's Nola, the voice they heard on the radio for all these years. They have some tea. They chat about New Zealand, probably reminiscing about home. And then on the way out, the men ask, Hey, there's 42 Australians coming down from Canada next week. Can they come to you? That was kind of the beginning of this new phase of Nola's career where she eventually had hundreds of these ANZAC men coming to her door, trying to stay with them. She would host them and entertain them. And that's when she realized that there was a big need for a New York Anzac club. So by the end of the war, the hospitality of the ANZAC club in New York, it had been enjoyed by around 35,000 men. So it was hugely successful. It was also visited by a lot of other divas in their own right, Gracie Fields, Tallulah, Bankhead, Vera Lynn, many, many others. So for her efforts, Nola was appointed an honorary OBE, and then she was later awarded the American Award of Merit and the Queen's Service Medal at a New Zealand government. So she was a well decorated woman,
Steph Strock 11:36And once a diva, always a diva. After the war, Nola's tireless energy continued to be channeled into all sorts of good.

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Sophie Elborough 11:43She basically remained a public figure. She published a children's book which was called Carrie Kangaroo, and she lectured pretty widely throughout the United States on peace and the South Pacific. She was a huge, passionate conservationist and also refugee activist. She fell in love with Glen Russell Dolberg, who was actually the manager who hired her for her first broadcasting gig in 1932 the Olympic one. He was the man who organized all that, and many years later, fell in love. They got married on the first of August, 1959, and they retired to a large home and garden in the LA hills. They both were very involved in community affairs. Nola was still always organizing, always fundraising, before she died on the 10th of October 1994. And she left a pretty incredible legacy in radio, fashion, politics and obviously New Zealand's military history, from Hastings to Hollywood to a legacy of dividing. I imagine, you know, if I was a young girl in the 1930s and I saw this incredible woman from Hastings who'd made it all the way to Hollywood and then made it all the way to New York. I would be, I think, very inspired by her story. She's creative, intelligent. She shows that you know, if you know what you want from a young age, you don't have to change those dreams. You don't have to give up on it just because maybe where you're from or the resources you have.
Steph Strock 13:36Next it's over to Madison Pine, one of our Collection Access Librarians,
Madison Pine 13:40I think being a diva is all about confidence, and I think it's about pursuing something you love with passion. It's all about celebrating talent and enthusiasm and spirit. It's just kind of this really exciting energy. Kia ora koutou. My name is Madison Pine, and I'm one of the Collection Access Librarians. So my divas are five New Zealand women who served with the Air Transport Auxiliary during the Second World War. They were known as the ATA girls, and they are some of the only women who actually flew planes during the Second World War.
Steph Strock 14:26And they were...
Madison Pine 14:28June Howden, Betty Black, Jane Lindstone, Marie Furkett, and Trevor Hunter, yes. Trevor, apparently, the story goes that her mother was convinced that she was going to be a boy, and stuck with the name.
Steph Strock 14:43Formed in 1939 the Air Transport Auxiliary, or ATA, was originally set up to support the British war effort, transporting mail, dispatches and medical supplies. But as the war intensified, so did their responsibilities. Within weeks, the ATA Pilots went from ferrying mail to ferrying military aircraft. Our divas became affectionately known as the atta girls, you know, like atta girl, and they proved beyond doubt that skill and courage in the skies wasn't just for the boys. The atta girls transported aircraft to wherever they were needed new, damaged or repaired. The planes had to be shuffled between factories, airfields and active service squadrons.
Madison Pine 15:25It was in a service that was made up of both men and women who, for various reasons, were not eligible to join the Royal Air Force, but were keen and capable pilots, so they kind of already had to have some flying experience, which all of the five women from New Zealand did. In total, there are about 168 women throughout the world who served as a part of the Air Transport Auxiliary.
Steph Strock 15:56Let's go back a bit and set the scene. Within the first two decades of powered flight, female pilots were breaking speed endurance and altitude records.
Madison Pine 16:06So it's really interesting. So the 1930s or post World War One, up to the start of the Second World War, was kind of known as this golden age of aviation, and during the 1930s you have these really incredible cohort of women that were creating one of these incredible new records. So in 1930 Amy Johnson made history when she became the first woman to fly solo from London to Australia. And then there's New Zealand's own Jean Batten, who was the first woman to fly across the South Atlantic, and she was also the first woman to fly solo from London to New Zealand in 1936 which took a total of 11 days and 45 minutes. And that's also when a lot of these ATA girls were getting their pilot's licenses,
Steph Strock 16:59And then, almost overnight, women joined the workforce en masse with working age men called to arms, women stepped up to fill traditionally male roles.
Madison Pine 17:07One of the quite interesting things about the air transport auxiliary was that men and women were paid equally. It wasn't until 1943 so it did come a little bit later in the war, but they were paid equally, and it was the first time that the British government basically paid men and women the same for the same job. But of course, like very early in the war, there was a ton of opposition, and people were like, We don't need women to fly. There was one quote that I read which was about German will think that Britain is at the end of her pilot Air Reserve, because I've got women pilots, which is just absolutely like crazy. It's bonkers. There were also a lot of quite supportive comments as well. It would have been such a male dominated industry that, of course, there was going to be a little bit of uncertainty about women and flying, but I think that they were more than capable. They were incredibly talented pilots.
Steph Strock 18:19The ATA pilots needed to be some of the best in the air. They flew in all weather, across unfamiliar territory, an aircraft they'd only just been introduced to. There were no radios to guide them and no navigational support. The days were long and exhausting, and the work brought them dangerously close to active airfields, prime targets for enemy bombing.
Madison Pine 18:40Flying definitely wasn't without its danger. And tragically, Jane Lindstone, she was ferrying a plane from Cosford to Wiltshire, and her engine cut out on her three times while she was attempting to make a crash landing. And sadly, she died on impact on the 10th of February in 1944. Her funeral was held and was attended by her friends and fellow pilots, Trevor and Betty, and it was described as, not only as a loss to New Zealand, but to the Empire as a whole.
Steph Strock 19:16It was a deadly job, and the ATA pilots did it day after day, 174 ATA pilots were killed during the wartime years. 15 of these were women, including Jane and British pioneer aviator Amy Johnson. During the war, the ATA flew 415,000 hours and delivered over 300,000 planes.
Madison Pine 19:39Personally, I believe these five women all embody the spirit of diva. Because I think when we think about diva, we think firstly about performers and artists and creativity and extravagance and glitz and glamour, but they're also confident in their role models, and they can be self made, and they are independent. These five women are incredible. And they played such an important role during war of it, and I think that they're worthy of being considered a diva because of this work, because of their confidence, because they pursued their passion with such vigour, because
Steph Strock 20:14it was a civilian occupation, none of the ATA pilots received any official recognition or medals during the war, but in 2008 the surviving members of the auxiliary were awarded ATA veteran badges for their service. Though this official recognition came much later, the atta girls were a hit back home in the press, the home front looked up to the pilots. Girls whose career opportunities were far fewer just a couple years earlier, knew that for the atta girls, the sky was the limit.
Madison Pine 20:44When we think about divas, we do think about this glamorous notion, lots of lovely gowns and things like that. And the atta girls were really glamourised in the press because they were women. And I think there was just this air of fascination by these women and these pilots, but in reality, it was not a glamourous job. They missed showers and they had huge long days and couldn't take a day off because they had a job to do, an incredibly important job to do. And I don't think that they complained because they had a job, and they knew that it had a purpose, and they wanted to fly. That's why they're there. They wanted to do this job. They believed in it.
Steph Strock 21:32Next up, our Wikimedian in Residence, Anjuli Selvadurai has scoured her encyclopedic sources and found a diva for the ages.
Anjuli Selvadurai 21:39To me, diva is a performer, not just in the traditional sense like the legendary Aretha Franklin, Madonna or Beyonce, but in the sense that performance is integral to embodying what it really means to be a diva. Performance takes a mixture of vulnerability and self assuredness. It is a defiant choice to be seen, heard and to command respect.
Carmen Rupe was an uri of Ngāti Hawa, Ngāti Heki Awai, Ngāti Maniapoto. She was born in 1936 in Taumarunui, and grew up firmly rooted within Te Ao Māori. From an early age, she loved dressing up in gowns and entertaining people. One of her earliest performances, which was around 1945 is noted to have been at a concert for servicemen in her hometown where she danced the hula. When she was 18, Carmen was called for compulsory military service. At the end of the training, each hut was able to put on a concert. Carmen was put forward as the star and performed in drag an impersonation of Eartha Kitt. with a want to help people. Carmen worked as a nurse in Auckland, This is where she started to get involved in the LGBT scene. She would go to these parties in her boy clothes. Then once inside, she would change into drag and perform.
Steph Strock 23:221960s New Zealand was a tough time to stand out.

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Anjuli Selvadurai 23:27So while Carmen's life was filled with glamor and partying and community, she also faced a lot of discrimination, violence and even incarceration. In 1966 she was arrested while heading home after a night out, her charge was frequenting with felonious intent, all stemming from the fact that she was wearing women's clothing. That case actually ended up being a big win for the trans community when the judge ruled that he was unable to find anything in New Zealand law that stated it was illegal for a man to dress in women's clothing. From that point onwards, Carmen only wore women's clothing, and in 1968 legally changed her name to Carmen and lived as a woman. She continued to push against conservative New Zealand society and fight for social reform.
Steph Strock 24:16It's sometimes easy to forget that the rights and freedoms we enjoy every day have been hard won by brave individuals standing up for what they believe in. In 1977, Carmen ran for mayor of Wellington.
Anjuli Selvadurai 24:30She wanted to decriminalize homosexuality, abortions and prostitution, although she was unsuccessful in her campaign, all of these things are now legalized under New Zealand law. I think that really shows how much of a trailblazer she was. She continued her advocacy work, supporting unhoused and vulnerable communities, educating on HIV AIDS, and fighting for LGBT rights. Right up until her death,
Steph Strock 24:57Carmen died in 2011, after a long life fighting for what she believed in
Anjuli Selvadurai 25:04Her legacy, very much, lives on her actions and influence paving the way for LGBT rights in Aotearoa in 2016, marking 30 years since the homosexual Law Reform Act, the green walking man on the pedestrian crossing on Wellington's Cuba Street was replaced with Carmen's figure, a nod to her unforgettable influence on the city. I think Carmen did a lot for the queer community at the time, but I think the most remarkable thing about her is that she really did live true to herself right from the beginning, and she took on whatever that really meant. She dealt with a lot of discrimination, but it seems like she was the kind of person who never let that get to her, and just kept fighting for her community and for the sake of making sure that others could continue to live how they wanted to in the future. So I think she is just so incredible, such a diva.
Steph Strock 26:10For our next diva, conservator Emma Prideaux takes us way, way back in time.
Emma Prideaux 26:23So today I'm going to give you a diva who is a little bit of out of left field. Some people have heard of her. Some people haven't. She is a pharaoh. Her name was Hatshepsut. And if you know anything about ancient Egyptian history, having a female pharaoh was not just unusual, almost unique.
Steph Strock 26:45Long before household names like Cleopatra and Nefertiti, Hatshepsut held the throne, only the second ever female pharaoh that we know to have done so,
Emma Prideaux 26:56Her rule was long. It was successful. It was a period of almost unparalleled building, uh, half the things that we think, like the Temple of Karnak, got a makeover under her rule, she built a huge mortuary temple, which can still be seen to this day. There are statues of her all across Egypt. She had a huge impact of the prosperity. She re set up trade routes after losing pretty much all of them in the second intermediary period. There is no evidence that she actually led the armies, but she did sic the armies on her borders and controlled her borders. She was lucky she didn't get any famines, but that's not to undermine the fact that she did incredibly well in a difficult situation with all the world stacked against her,
Steph Strock 27:46The world wasn't ready for Hatshepsut. It didn't even have a word for her.
Emma Prideaux 27:52Now the problem here is that, as Egypt is focused on God's one special dude, there isn't a great term for Queen. They don't have a king and a queen. You have the Pharaoh, the king God's special-est boy. You have the great wife, the special-est woman, like the Pharaoh's favourite wife. Then you have all the other wives. So generally, the kingship line is supposed to go through the great wife, but the great wife has only produced Hatshepsut. One of the additional wives produces a boy who will become the heir called Thutmose the second. So they decide to do the logical Egyptian thing and marry the two together.
Steph Strock 28:34Yes, you heard that, right, literally, marrying the two siblings together. Sadly, Hatshepsut's half brother/ husband. Wasn't the picture of health, dying young as a result.
Emma Prideaux 28:48So husband is enlarged and in charge for three years or 13 years. Like I said, it's pretty hard to track exactly when certain people come in and out of the picture, just because of the inbreeding and also the similar names. So he dies. Now they have between them a daughter, but no male heirs, same problem as last time. However, Thutmose the second has begat Thutmose the third, So hapshetsut becomes a regent for, technically, her nephew, I think, at this point. So she's working as a regent. And Thutmose the second dies when Thutmose the third is two, so he is a full on baby at this point, because they believe the head God has given them the right to rule these blessed lands, which is really great. They can't really portion the power out to other people. So there's a tradition that the Queens will become Regent until the King is old enough to smite his own enemies and when she becomes regent, she suddenly stops having to pretend as much, because people aren't they don't believe the two year old is actually giving the orders, no matter if he is God's special-est boy, they do know that they're going to Hatshepsut. Hatshepsut is setting up trade routes. Hatshepsut is starting temples again. Hatshepsut is giving orders for certain things to be built. And then there is a slide, which is really interesting, where she starts masculinizing herself.
Steph Strock 30:21When Hatshepsut took power, she did what any Pharaoh would. They didn't have a concept of a queen, though. So she took on the image of a king.
Emma Prideaux 30:29She starts consolidating power slowly. It looks like it takes her about five years. So Thutmose two. She becomes regent. Thutmose is seven. She's no longer regent. She's declaring herself fairer, and you can see a shift. She goes from the linen dress, and then she dons a headdress, which is sort of gender neutral. Goddesses and Gods both use it and linen skirt. Her chest gets flatter and she doesn't wear anything above the skirt. As it were, her legs start getting longer. In all her depictions, her face gets narrower and longer. So you can see the shift all the way across. In all her statues, after a certain point, she is displayed as with a beard, because that was a symbol of kingship, as much as a modern crown was looking at timelines, she becomes full Pharaoh and starts heavily encoding herself as masculine in her portraits and all her paintings when her nephew hits the age of, I think nine or 10, so that is the point where the kid will be getting taller and becoming edging on to puberty, becoming a potential problem. I wonder if she hits the point and realizes it's now or never.
Steph Strock 31:56Hatshepsut had a clear goal. She wanted to hang on to power, and who could blame her? She was pretty good at the whole Pharaoh thing. If entrenching her rule required a false beard, so be it.
Emma Prideaux 32:09She took, not technically her birthright, but something that she'd been doing for a very long time, and decided she wanted to keep it because she was very good at that. There is a lot of old stories about hapshe, that she was like an evil stepmother. There's a feminist retelling now that she was girl boss, and I feel like that is probably close to the truth, but also I think that we need to recognize the fact that there was an easy way of consolidating her power, and she did that through presence, through intelligence, through culture, redefining her relationship with Gods, with herself, with her gender, instead of the easy route, which would be just like push Thutmose, the third, into the Nile and just keep him in there until he stops coming back, she was in power for 22 years. She took over when Thutmose was around two and when he was around 24 she died, apparently, skin cancer. So again, she was good enough that they didn't do the Bronze Age technique, which would be to kill her.
Steph Strock 33:14I mean, why fix what's not broken?
Emma Prideaux 33:22If she didn't make a change and start taking her own possession on the stage of life, it would be very easy for her to lose it. And I think it is useful to note that she is a diva because she saw her chance. She took it.
Steph Strock 33:40Hatshepsut once reflected. "Now my heart turns this way and that, as I think of what the people will say, those who will see my monuments in the years to come and who shall speak of what I've done" and here we are today, speaking of exactly that. But after her death, despite her successful rule and many achievements, her stepson slash successor, tried to write her out of history.
Emma Prideaux 34:04He seems to have waited a couple of years and then done what Hatshepsut done to him, essentially, and started chiseling off all her names because she'd masculised Her name so much. It was an easy switch and an easy edit to make, but you do see things like the faces chiseled off her inscriptions,

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Steph Strock 34:22The apparent need for Thutmose, the third to try and destroy the evidence of her reign speaks to the power of her memory.
bringing us our final diva of the day is manuscripts curator, Nina Finigan.
Nina Finigan 34:46It had quite negative connotations. It was, you know, someone who was dramatic and had tantrums or but that's changed for me. It changed when Beyonce released her song diva, and that is about, you know, empowerment and independence, and all those good things that we associate with divas now, but if we actually googled Diva and what it means, it actually means an opera singer, a female singer of immense talent, so if we want to get to the bones of it that's what it means. And that's why I've chosen the person I'm going to talk to you about today, because that's what she was.
So I'm delighted to introduce you to Hinemoa Rosieur.
Hinemoa was born in Maunganui in 1910 I've never heard of her before, and I would imagine our listeners wouldn't have heard of her either. I came across her by accident, as so often happens when you work in a museum. I was thumbing through a box of musical programs in our ephemera store looking for someone else entirely. And Hinemoa's face just caught my attention, and our ephemera collection is a farewell program from her farewell tour of 1937 held at Auckland Town Hall. And as also happens in a museum, you just get an inkling about someone, that someone's going to have a really interesting story. And so I followed my nose with Hinemoa and discovered that she does have an interesting story. And she is a diva. Her family have an interesting story. So her great grandparents, Charles Cottle, and a woman called Pauriwa, were married by the missionary William Williams at his mission station in waimati in 1836 on the very next page of the register is Hongi Hika. So it was a really important time. So her family have no important history. Her cousin was Nancy wake, who was a famous resistance fighter in the French Resistance in World War Two. So interesting family. But back to Hinemoa. So she was a singer, and her talent was notable from an early age. We first see her appearing the newspapers when she was eight years old, still living in Maunganui with her family, and she won a competition in a singing duet in 1918 her and her whole family moved to Auckland sometime after that, and she starts taking music lessons and singing lessons at the Tate Morris Music School in Auckland. So her people are recognizing that she's a real talent. She starts appearing on Auckland radio stations, and if you put her name into papers, past her name comes up literally hundreds of times. So Aucklanders would have been really familiar with her voice. So she was kind of gaining, you know, momentum, as her career was kind of taking off.
Steph Strock 37:22When Hinemoa was 20, she won the cover to Dame Nellie Melba scholarship. It was her ticket to study abroad and realize her dreams. A newspaper at the time called her a vocal triumph.
Nina Finigan 37:32She actually won the scholarship two years in a row. She was so talented, and that's when I met Hinemoa in our ephemera store. So 1937 she's about to embark on a whole new part of her career. She's going off to Europe to get to do her studies in London and Italy. And so she embarks on this farewell tour of New Zealand,
Steph Strock 37:54But our divas ARIA was cut short
Nina Finigan 38:01After arriving in London, I assume she kind of kept going with her studies. But then war, of course, broke out in Europe, and Hinemoa became a nurse in London. She nursed at Maida Vale hospital, and she apparently was known as a singing nurse because, you know, she has this amazing voice, and of course, she wants to share it with the world. So that's what she was known for.
Steph Strock 38:21While Hinemoa was nursing in London, the city was under relentless attack. The German Luftwaffe bombed the UK's major cities. The Blitz began in September 1940 and lasted for eight harrowing months, night after night, bombs rained down, destroying homes, businesses and lives.
Nina Finigan 38:53You can imagine how soothing that might be for people you know in the midst of wartime, hearing this beautiful voice echoing through the corridors.
Steph Strock 39:08Hinemoa moved across the world to pursue her singing career, but instead gave her life to helping others.
Nina Finigan 39:16Hinemoa was killed in a bombing raid in the Blitz in London in 1940 so she was actually the first New Zealand civilian to die in the Blitz. And so her I guess, you know, she never got a chance to soar. Her career was cut short tragically. But in my mind, all the things that kind of lead up to that point in her life classify her as a diva. That's why I've chosen her. As I was embarking on my research of Hinemoa. There's a little bit about her online and but she's fairly unknown. But one thing I came across was a recording at the National Library. It's actually the honor. Only known recording of Hinemoa's voice. She was on the radio, you know, like extensively in the 1920s and early 30s, but there's one existing recording of her voice. And luckily for me, I know the music curator down at the National Library, and he it was on a CD, so he digitized it in a heartbeat and sent the file to me, so we actually have honeymoons voice, and we can play it for you now.
Steph Strock 40:39Courage, capability, glitz and glam, a diva doesn't need to be defined by a single word. Diva is a way of life. It's an ability to defy the odds, pave the way for others and leave a legacy of greatness, whether the world is watching or not. I
That was Defining Diva written and produced by Laura Skerritt and me Steph Strock. Sound Design by Sara O'Brien and production support from Annabel Walker. The executive producer was Teresa Cowie from Connect Content
A huge thanks to our very own divas, Sophie Elborough, Madison Pine, Anjuli Selvadurai, Emma Prideaux and Nina Finigan. Thank you also to Dr Michael Brown from the Alexander Turnbull Library for sharing the only known recording of Hinemoa Rosieur for us to play during this episode.
To find out more about the women discussed in today's episode, learn about the Museum's DIVA exhibition, or to listen to the full recording of Hinemoa, visit the links in our show notes.
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