The woman walker

​People raise money by doing all sorts of sponsored things these days. And it’s not unusual for it to be a sponsored walk.
But when Esther Marion Pretoria James did it in 1931 it was new and unusual. Not the least of which because she was a woman.
Esther was tiny, barely five foot, and and slightly built, but with a spirit and will ten times that, she set off from Spirits Bay in Northland to walk to Stewart Island.
Esther was born in Pahiatua on November 5, 1900, to Thomas Joseph James and his wife Eliza Jane Whitmore, the seventh of ten children. Thomas was a carpenter and worked as a bridge inspector which meant they moved around a lot.
Esther was hardworking and independent, winning a scholarship to a grammar school in Auckland and excelling in art. She later married architect Leslie Haysom and had one daughter.
Along with patenting domestic inventions, Esther was one of New Zealand’s first professional models, working with the New Zealand Manufacturers’ Federation - promoting New Zealand made goods.
So she decided on a walk, using only clothes and food from local producers. After six months training she set off.
Esther walked alone - something probably not recommended today - but was greeted at every stop where she was received by mayors and factory managers who fed and housed her. She carried a log book which was signed by many of them. In fact she was so well fed, she complained she gained weight during the walk.
The only mishap was a sprained ankle when she was blown into a gully on the Remutaka Range, leading to a week’s rest in Wellington.
In 197 days she finished her walk reaching Bluff on June 18, 1932. Even on her rest days she was walking, having climbed Mount Egmont during one of them.
Later in 1932 - again to promote New Zealand goods - she went to Australia and walked from Melbourne to Brisbane, and in Sydney she was the first woman to walk across the then new harbour bridge.
She spent some time having adventures - diving for coral, crocodile hunting and opal mining.
After her divorce from her first husband she married again in 1937 to Edward Scanlon Julian. She continued her entrepreneurial spirit, harvesting shells and seaweed for profit, growing crops, buying a section at Mount Maunganui where she built her own home, then after selling it, and building another in Remuera.
She wrote her autobiography in 1965 Jobbing along and it led to her representing New Zealand authors at the World book fair in Frankfurt.
At the age of 69 she became one of the four electoral candidates for the Independent Women’s Party in Auckland supporting a reform of the laws of marriage and matrimonial property.
Esther divorced her second husband in 1971 and died in Auckland on January 7, 1990 and is buried in Purewa Cemetery.
Esther could be considered the spiritual mother of Buy New Zealand Made.