Immigrant found vocation and passion in libraries
In 1957, an 18-year-old Dorothea Brown boarded a Dutch flagged ship alone to embark on the long journey from the Netherlands to New Zealand. Twenty-nine years later she became the first woman to be appointed city librarian in Christchurch where she oversaw the amalgamation of the city’s libraries, followed by becoming the first woman to head a Christchurch City Council department.
Sue Sutherland, who was deputy city librarian to Brown for eight years, described Brown as ‘‘very passionate about the role that libraries play in a society’’.
‘‘She was quite a formidable woman,’’ said Sutherland. ‘‘If you were going in with a proposition you had to be pretty sure of your facts because she was always on top of the information.’’
Brown was born on August 13, 1938 in The Hague, Netherlands to parents Christiaan and Catharina Jongejans. She was one of three sisters and two brothers.
During WWII, her family later moved about 65 kilometres inland to Utrecht where she went to a local grammar school.
An article published by the Christchurch City Library after an interview was done with Brown in 2009, detailed how she completed a course in languages, including Latin and Greek, as well as history and mathematics, all designed to prepare students for university.
Her family could not afford for her to pursue further education and Brown was faced with the choice of doing office work or moving to New Zealand, the article said.
‘‘New Zealand sounded more fun’’, she said in the interview.
In 1957, she embarked on the long sea voyage onboard a Dutch flagged passenger ship, the M. S. Sibajak.
There was an assisted migrant scheme between New Zealand and the Netherlands in the 1950s.
The ship arrived just before midnight on May 12.
Sutherland said Brown ‘‘came out on her own’’, but had a married sister in Christchurch who got Brown her first job at a soil testing laboratory.
According to the 2009 article, Brown was laid off after a few months, but was encouraged to take up library work due to her background in languages. In May 1958 she started her library career at Canterbury Public Library.
After five years Brown became a senior library assistant and completed the New Zealand Library Certificate.
In the following years, she married Ed Brown, a Scotsman, and in 1961 they travelled back to visit their home countries.
The pair lived in a three-storey house perched on a hill in Lyttelton. Brown’s husband died in 1998 and Brown continued to lived in their house until it was sold last year. Her niece Katinka Visser remembered the house was always ‘‘chockfull of books’’.
Brown worked in various libraries including in Invercargill, Palmerston North and at the University of Canterbury.
During that time she became increasingly active in the New Zealand Library Association, which continued into her years working in Waimairi where she was appointed Waimairi District Librarian in 1976.
It was prior to the local government amalgamation in 1989, and she ‘‘oversaw those libraries when Waimairi was a really rural district’’, Sutherland said.
In 1982, Brown became president of the local branch of the New Zealand Library Association, regularly attended council meetings, and was responsible for the Bishopdale, Fendalton and Redwood libraries. In 1986 she was appointed Christchurch City Librarian., Sutherland said there was a big push for user pays for libraries at the time and Brown was ‘‘very active in articulating the case against charges for libraries’’.
Brown strongly believed that libraries were of social good, she said.
‘‘She was someone who had quite a lot of influence on the development of libraries in Christchurch, and she oversaw the amalgamation of libraries into one library system and that was quite a major task.’’
Visser said her aunt was ‘‘tough’’ and it took ‘‘a certain type of person to do the things she did’’.
The new council at the time commissioned a report from accounting firm KPMG, keen to review spending on the library system, it said in the 2009 article.
‘‘The library was required to provide information for the consultants but had no other input into the initial report which recommended that the library could make up to a million dollars in savings.’’
Sutherland said when the report came out it was ‘‘full of inaccuracies’’ and Brown ‘‘set about really pulling it apart’’.
‘‘She fought her corner and she always did it with knowledge and data that just proved they had not understood what was going on at all,’’ Sutherland said.
It led to the report not being implemented at the time.
The post-amalgamation period saw an increase in demand for library services and in 2009, Brown recalled her ‘‘life being consumed by budgets’’.
Sutherland said Brown saw an opportunity in the newly introduced council 10-year plans to ‘‘really strengthen the infrastructure for the libraries in Christchurch’’.
‘‘She put together this plan to build and replace some of the older and smaller libraries, and although not all of that was achieved in her time as library manager, without that kind of foresight, many of the libraries in Christchurch that we take for granted wouldn’t have happened.’’
The genesis of libraries like New Brighton and Upper Riccarton were ‘‘in that original plan that Dorothea had put together, so she really made an impact,’’ Sutherland said.
In 1994, Brown moved on to work in the council after being successful in her application for the director of human resources. She held the position for nine years before retiring in 2003.
Sutherland said Brown was ‘‘always keen on staff wellbeing and staff improvement to actually grow people’s skills and capabilities’’.
Visser said her aunt was generous with her time, giving people career advice.
She continued to serve on school boards, and helped schools with budgeting even after retiring.
Visser said Brown loved cruises, of which she did many, including around Antarctica, America and Australia.
She also ‘‘adored her cats’’.
‘‘She wanted to desperately go on all these cruises, but she would always write to me saying ‘I’ve got to come back now, I’m missing my cats so much’.’’
Reviewing her career in her 2009 interview, Brown said discovering librarianship was the greatest part.
‘‘What I loved about the public library idea and what I needed to come to New Zealand to learn, was the concept of contributing to democracy and contributing to learning for everyone,’’ she said at the time.
Sutherland remembered Brown as having a great sense of humour and ‘‘fun to be around’’.
‘‘She was always interested in supporting people to grow their skills and their knowledge, whatever role she was in. She was passionate about the role that libraries play in a society, both in people’s learning, reading and literacy, but also for the cultural benefits they bring as well.’’
Brown died peacefully at Burwood Hospital on September 30, aged 83 years old. She is survived by her two sisters and niece.