31 Facts About Elsie Locke

Elsie Violet Locke was a New Zealand communist writer, historian, and leading activist in the feminism and peace movements.

Elsie Locke was married to Jack Locke, a leading member of the Communist Party.

Elsie Locke was the daughter of William John Allerton Farrelly and Ellen Electa Farrelly.

Elsie Locke grew up in Waiuku, a small town south of Auckland, where she developed a repugnance towards war at an early age.

Elsie Locke was the only member of her family to complete high school, and the only student in her class for her final two years of schooling.

Elsie Locke wanted to be a writer, rather than a teacher or nurse, the conventional careers for literate women of her generation.

Elsie Locke won a scholarship to study at the University of Auckland, where she became known as "Little Farrelly".

Elsie Locke became involved in printing the early literary magazine, Phoenix, and though she did not write for the magazine, her flat was a central base for all those involved.

In 1932 during her time at the university, Elsie Locke had an experience that would become a major influence on her future political ideology and activism, according to her daughter, Maire Leadbeater.

Elsie Locke gained an increasing interest in socialism during her studies, and attended meetings of Friends of the Soviet Union, and the Fabian Society.

Elsie Locke wrote of her early life and education in her 1981 autobiography, Student at the Gates, which discusses the influences which shaped her socialist philosophies, and some of New Zealand's dominant political and literary personalities of the 1920s and 1930s.

Elsie Locke had sole custody of Don, at a time when being a solo mother was particularly difficult.

Elsie Locke brought her four children up to appreciate everything artistic, and love the outdoors.

Elsie Locke continued to attend many cultural events with Maire into her old age.

Elsie Locke joined the Communist Party in 1933, and was a leading party activist, particularly in the 1930s.

The original purpose of these committees was to publish the early monthly feminist journal, The Working Woman, which Elsie Locke began with the support of the Communist Party the same year.

Woman Today was edited by Elsie Locke, and ran until October 1939, with contributions from notable writers such as Gloria Rawlinson and Robin Hyde.

Elsie Locke stood as the Communist Party candidate for the Wellington Hospital Board and Lower Hutt City Council in the 1941 local body elections, and later that year married leading party member Jack Elsie Locke.

From 1946 to 1948 Elsie Locke was hospitalised with spinal tuberculosis, and she had to remain flat on her back.

Tuberculosis was a major killer at the time, but Elsie Locke survived, spending the time reading and contemplating her political beliefs.

Elsie Locke became convinced that the New Zealand Communist Party should develop a more "home-grown ideology".

Elsie Locke focused a lot more of her attention into peace activism after she left the Communist Party in 1956, though she had been involved in anti-war issues her whole life, including the campaign against conscription in the late 1940s.

Elsie Locke considered nuclear weapons a greater evil than the Holocaust, and was a co-founder of the New Zealand branch of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament in the 1950s, and an executive member from 1957 to 1970.

Elsie Locke was extremely proud of New Zealand's nuclear-free status, and of the decades of struggle endured to achieve it.

Elsie Locke remained committed to the cause for the rest of her life.

Elsie Locke spent a summer in Waiuku researching the novel, which was illustrated by Katerina Mataira.

Elsie Locke campaigned for a more balanced understanding of New Zealand history.

Elsie Locke is the only person who has ever had a park named in their honour by Christchurch City Council during their lifetime.

The Elsie Locke Park was located on Oxford Terrace in front of the Centennial Pool, but was removed after the 2011 Christchurch earthquake to make way for the Margaret Mahy Playground.

In March 2009, Elsie Locke was commemorated as one of the Twelve Local Heroes, and a bronze bust of her was unveiled outside the Christchurch Arts Centre.

In 1995, Elsie Locke became the fifth recipient of the Margaret Mahy Award.