Edith Winstone Blackwell

Born Edith Mary Winstone on 28 July 1877, Blackwell was the only daughter of George and Mary Elizabeth Winstone.[1] She attended the Beresford Street Public School before becoming one of the first girls to attend Auckland Grammar School in Symonds Street. In 1932, she married Joseph Henry Blackwell. Following a time in Kaiapoi they returned to Auckland, building "Marewa", a fine home on the north-eastern slopes of Mount Eden with gardens spreading down the hillside.

In 1950, Edith Blackwell established a charitable trust—the Edith Winstone Blackwell Foundation–that was incorporated in 1956. A Trust Board appointed to run the trust included a representative of the descendants of each of her brothers. Blackwell donated a Zeiss telescope to the Stardome Observatory. The primary fixed telescope at Stardome Observatory is named after her.

In the 1954 Queen's Birthday Honours, Blackwell was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire, for social welfare and philanthropic services;[2] her investiture was performed at Government House, Auckland on 25 February 1955 by the governor-general, Sir Willoughby Norrie. She died on 15 September 1956.

The Edith Winstone Blackwell Case Room in the Owen G Glenn Building at the University of Auckland is named after her.

In 2008, the University of Auckland launched a fundraising campaign to redevelop the Leigh Marine Laboratory at Goat Island as the base for the South Pacific Centre for Marine Science - with a $4.5 million donation from the Edith Winstone Blackwell Foundation. In 2011, the Edith Winstone Blackwell Interpretive Centre opened.

• Stardome Observatory

• 1966 Encyclopaedia of New Zealand
• University of Auckland News 4 July 2008