By Guest Writer: Carmen Haymen
Minnie was born in Timaru on the 1st May 1870, she was the 11th and youngest child of Philip Jarvis and Sarah Foster. Her father Phillip was one of the deal boatmen and had arrived in Timaru with his wife and young family in 1859.
Minnie attended Timaru Public School where she did well, she seemed to enjoy schooling and by age 14 had put her name forward to the Timaru School committee to be placed on the list of applicants to become a pupil teacher when a vacancy occurred.
It seems Minnie's real love and passion was music, by age 17 she was advertising her services to teach beginners wanting to learn the pianoforte from her home in Arthur Street.
Over the next few years her talents as a singer and piano played seemed to be in high demand at social events and gatherings.
In 1889 when the Lifeboat Lodge held a social evening to celebrate it's 15th Anniversary, the following was reported in the Timaru Herald
"The Success of the evening was largely due to the able manner in which Miss Minnie Foster presided at the piano."
Minnie was also an active member in the Wesleyan Church, in 1895 she gave a talk at one of their fortnightly meetings about her recent trip to Stewart Island, describing the countryside on her way to Bluff by rail and boat, she described the Island and it's inhabitants as very hospitable , though the comforts and luxuries of more civilised places were sadly missed. She recalled for the audience how in paying a visit to one of the smaller islands a gale sprang up and blew them away for 3 days: she had had some very rough experiences.
Her name kept appearing regularly in the local papers for concerts she sang or played at, one of note in April 1896 is worthy of mention, it was held in the Albury Schoolroom for the Albury Tennis club, one of the other singers at the concert was a Mr Wilfrid Flockton, it must have been an enjoyable night as on the 20th April 1896 Minnie and Wilfrid were married, Minnie was 26 years old and her occupation was a tailoress, Wilfred was 2 years younger and a Storekeeper.
The newly named Mrs Flockton didn't slow down with all the social engagements still featuring regularly in the papers, in August 1897 she played one of the lead roles (Lydia Hawthorne) in the Theatre Royal's production of "Dorothy"
Less than 2 years after they were married Wilfrid died at Timaru hospital on the 25th February 1898, he was aged 26, and the next year on May 1st 1899 her father Phillip passed away.
In 1901 Minnie's involvement with the Wesleyan church had deepened, she was the Hon. Sec. of the Wesleyan Improvement Union, she was also a member of the Sailors Rest Committee.
The church was involved with missionary work in the Pacific Islands, and for the first time in the Timaru congregations history they were about to have a worker go on a direct mission to the field.
Mrs Minnie Flockton had offered her herself for on the ground missionary work and had been accepted, she would be leaving for George Brown College in New Britain.
Missionary work in the Islands in 1901 was not for the faint-hearted, especially as a woman, far from being just a quiet teacher a female missionary was expected to be an active, multi-tasking agent of the church. The mission stations also doubled as the local clinic, female missionaries frequently acted as midwives, nurses, and pharmacists, despite having no formal training.
The housing provided was usually a small hastily constructed bungalow built from timber, thatch and iron, the houses where usually built on stilts to mitigate flooding, pests and the suffocating tropical humidity. With the constant threats of tropical diseases many early female missionaries died within years of arrival or were forced to return to their home countries.
In October 1901, Minnie left New Zealand bound for New Britain (Papua New Guinea)
On the 1st August 1903 Minnie married Wilhelm Mirow (a German Plantation manager) 10 years her junior, at the residence of the famous pioneer Richard Parkinson in New Britain, the wedding was officiated by Reverend Cox a Methodist Missionary.
Wilhelm was deeply involved in managing commercial plantations in the Bismark Archipelago (including east New Britain and Emirau Island).But they were mainly based in Rabaul, Minnie and Wilhelm welcomed a son in 1906, they spent roughly 30 years in the Islands and made numerous and frequent trips back to New Zealand.
Every time Minnie Mirow came back to Timaru the local papers reported her stories, in 1908 she had arrived back and was visiting her mother that now lived at Studholme, her husband, the Timaru Herald reported, was the owner of a very extensive coconut plantation and this year is cultivating rubber, having planted 5000 rubber trees this season, Family life was by no means easy on the Island, they had tales to tell of tribal warfare and even the murders of missionaries, who were their friends.
In 1912 she came back with her young son Hermann, wanting to have him educated in New Zealand she left him to live with her sister Emma and her husband Herbert Shrimpton at Point Bush Road in Waimate, Hermann along side his cousins went to Hannaton School and then later Waitaki Boys.
A rather nasty accident happened to Hermann in 1916, he was then aged 10, he had hitched a ride home from school on the back of a dray carrying 3 tonnes of potatoes, the driver was unaware he was there, Through a jolt, Hermann fell off and one of the wheels passed over his right leg just below the knee, Dr Pitt was called for and he was sent to Mrs Henderson's hospital, where his lower leg was amputated.
Minnie and Wilhelm brought a property in Point Bush Road, they also had a home in Sydney as well as their home in Rabaul, In 1927 Minnie spent the year on a travelling tour of Britain and the continent, by the early 1930's they were spending the majority of their time travelling around New Zealand, and back and forward between Sydney, they eventually sold their Waimate home and retired to Dover Heights in Sydney, Wilhelm died there on the 9th April 1943.
Minnie passed away on the 19th January 1950 in Strathfield, NSW Australia aged 79.