Annie, a Cantabrian, was born at Pleasant Point, grew up, and lived nearly all her adult life in Timaru. Her birth was on 1 July 1902, and she was the youngest of the seven children of Frederick Fielding, a farmer, and his wife, Mary Davis, both immigrants from Britain. (Annie was known earlier as Mabel and changed to Ann or Annie in adult life.) After her father died in an accident when Mabel was five, her mother moved the family to Timaru, working as a cleaner to support the seven children. Mabel was educated at Timaru Main School and Timaru Technical College.
On leaving school, Mabel worked as a post office telephonist in the days when people at a telephone exchange plugged calls into the required line for them to function. Mabel also enjoyed amateur productions and was acting in a Gilbert and Sullivan opera when she met carpenter David Harold Newlands. The couple married when Mabel was 20. They would have two sons and a daughter.
Later, during the Second World War, the outgoing Mabel joined the Women's War Service Auxiliary, serving as its central executive and an instructor in the signals corps.
The family went through great stress when their son David Junior went missing in action in the Solomon Islands in December 1942. Years later, when the war was over, the Newlands learned that young David survived for a while in a Japanese prisoner-of-war camp. He had disappeared from that, and his parents never knew what had happened.
Over some years, Annie increasingly participated with leadership in the life of Timaru. She joined the Timaru Baptist Church and, as secretary, led the other women for about over 18 years as secretary of the local branch of the Baptist Women's Missionary Union (BWMU).
Labour Representative
It was most unusual for a Baptist woman to take a serious interest in politics, but that was Mabel. She joined the New Zealand Labour Party and worked hard through the election campaign of the Timaru M.P. Clyde Carr.
Then, Mabel founded the Timaru Women's Branch of the Labour Party. It seemed natural for her to take the role of President, which she held for five years. Along with this, Mabel became an executive member of the Timaru Labour Representation Committee. She broke conventions in 1946 when she became the first elected woman President of a divisional council of the Labour Party. (At this stage, she chose her second name and became Ann, or still more often Annie.)
Even while she held these positions in the Labour Party, Annie found time to attend the weekly prayer meeting of the Baptist church regularly. Church was Sunday morning and evening in those days. Annie was usually there for both. Little was made of the mention that she twice preached at a weeknight service of BWMU, a task usually taken by a man.
Standing for Parliament
In the elections in 1946, Annie stood for Labour in the Ashburton electorate. A little ambivalence about being in politics appeared in the November 1946 Baptist newspaper entry. "While our church is not a political body, we congratulate one of our members, Mrs A.M.Newlands, who, after much prayer and deliberation has decided to contest the Ashburton seat. Whatever our political opinions might be, we must admit that Christian representation is what we need in parliament if we are to get reforms."
The Ashburton Guardian advertised her electioneering rallies. Here is one week: Tuesday 19 November, Methven Town Hall, 8.00 pm; 20 November, Rokeley School; 21 November, Barr Hill School, 7.00 pm and Lauriston Hall at 8:30 pm; 25 November, St Andrews Hall, 8.00 pm.
Unfortunately for Annie, she did so poorly that the sitting MP increased his majority.
A Representative in the United Nations
Annie was described as small and vivacious. The Labour Party was grateful for her efforts and appointed her a member of the New Zealand delegation to the United Nations General Assembly negotiations in Paris in September 1948.
The NZ Baptist paper wrote warmly about her at this time:
That New Zealand Baptists should have the honour of supplying the womenu2019s delegate to the United Nations Assembly opening in Paris on September 21 is an arresting thought. How great are the possibilities within the lives of those we are training in our churches.
Mrs Newlands of Timaruu2026 is a woman of many parts. A sparkling personality, possessed of a fine gift of speech which has found in church, in civic affairs, and in the Labour movement in particular, avenues of expression. Mrs Newlands made a brave but unsuccessful fight for the Ashburton seat in Labour interests at the last general electionu2026
Prior to leaving, she said it would be her endeavour to find a Baptist Church in Paris. She only hopes that the thoughts and prayers of the people of her hometown will be with her. Moving in difficult places, as she will, our honoured friend should have the prayers of the whole denomination.
The United Nations Commission on Human Rights, chaired at the time by Eleanor Roosevelt, had designed the draft Declaration and sent this to member governments in 1947 for comment. In New Zealand, Prime Minister Peter Fraser and a human rights committee reported to the commission, and then in Paris, the debate on the draft was to take three months.
Annie wrote for the May 1949 issue of the NZ Baptist about her travel by air to the conferenceu2014very uncommon at that stageu2014'Golden Journeyings: a Baptist Lady Represents New Zealand at the United Nations'. She described flying at 5000 feet over Indonesia to 'Sourabaya' over 'miles of rugged country' and seeing 'grim relics of war' with broken and half-sunken ships in a harbour. She went in short hops Calcutta, Karachi, Basra, Bahrein, Cairo, over El Alamein, and Tobruk, all at 5000 feet.
Annie and one other representative, Colin Aikman, presented New Zealand's case to the UN committee as the negotiations rolled on, followed by the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. She wrote of the work and some of the people on the UN committee with her, incidentally giving a few insights about herself and her views.
The time spent was long, interesting and exhausting, the human contacts made were valuable, and it is to be hoped, far-reaching. Among the notable personalities on the Committee wereu2014Dr. Nolde, New York, of the World Council of Churches, was a source of encouragement and help. Mrs. Roosevelt set a high tone in her outstanding contributions. Mrs. Corbett, M.P. (United Kingdom), tiny and tenacious. Dr Margo Klompe (Netherlands), cool and conscientious. Miss Barnadina (Latin America), voluble of speech, yet utterly unable to comprehend the economic and social freedom of women in New Zealand. Mr. Meyhew, M.P. (United Kingdom), forceful but provocative. Professor Pavlov (Russia), not understanding democracy as we understand it. Begum Ikramullah (Pakistan), slender, dark-eyed Indian girl speaking with all the burning fervour of a people who have known social upheaval...
She apparently also enjoyed the accompanying social activities during the negotiations and later wrote about them for the Timaru Herald. She wrote frequently on the United Nations on returning to New Zealand, urging women to take any opportunity to play a greater part in spreading the UN work.
Concurrently with the UN work, Annie stood for and was elected to the South Canterbury Hospital Board in 1947. Although she missed the board election three years later, she again joined the board in 1952, appointed by the Timaru City Council. She remained in that role until her retirement in 1962.
It is said that this 'small, vivacious and outgoing woman' decided to become involved in public life because of the hard times she and her husband faced during the Depression of the 1930s. Other aspects of her community leadership included serving as a Justice of the Peace, chairperson of the Timaru Civilian State Housing Committee, an executive member of the Timaru branch of the NCC (National Council of Churches) and a foundational member of the Marriage Guidance Council in Timaru.
Judging by the newspapers, it is noticeable that Annie has appeared on the stage for only a few years. The frequent references to her and short articles written by her as chair of Timaru BWMU appear in 'The Baptist' only in the years 1946 to 1949, and it is hard to find her in other media. She apparently commented that she reached a pinnacle with the United Nations trip.
Annie and her husband David retired in 1968 to Stephens Bay near Motueka, where he died in 1973. Annie later moved to Wellington and died there in 1983.
Sources:
Megan Hutching. Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/en/biographies/5n5/newlands-mabel-annie/sources (accessed 9 August 2023)
New Zealand Baptist, October 1948,
Scattered further issues of NZ Baptist: May 1946; April, August December 1947; July, August, October 1948; March, April, May 1949
Photo: Annie with children after she took part in drafting the Bill of Human Rights. Supplied by Beulah Wood.
