Dorothy Theomin

DOROTHY MICHAELIS THEOMIN.

The only daughter of David and Marie Theomin was born on Christmas Eve, 1888. Her early education was at Miss Miller's School, Braemar. Between 1902 and 1905, she studied at Roedean on the Sussex Coast, a new school founded in 1885 by Dorothy, Penelope and Millicent Lawrence. Roedean broke away from the stifling restraints of later Victorian education for women and encouraged its pupils to develop inquiring minds and self-reliance, both physical and mental. Dorothy Theomin returned to Dunedin at the time when Olveston was being completed. The house quickly became a centre of social activity generated by business connections, involvement with the arts and with the Synagogue as well as numerous philanthropic enterprises. When Mrs Theomin found herself taken up with Plunket Society affairs and those of other organisations, Dorothy fell naturally enough into the role of running the busy house. This was not allowed to stand in the way of her developing her own life. She was keenly interested in outdoor pursuits. As a member of the New Zealand Alpine Club, she climbed and tramped in the Southern Alps over many years. Olveston has on display a record of her climbs and transits in the Alps. When her climbing days were over, she continued to spend time at Franz Josef and its environs where, during much of the year, the air was friendlier to her asthmatic condition than that of the East Coast. Photography was one of her many talents and she was recognised as a skilled mountain photographer. Much of her photographic work is lodged in the Hocken Library. She enjoyed playing golf and she rode, often in company with her sister-in-law. She was a member of the Otago Hunt Club. Dorothy Theomin followed her mother's interest in the Plunket Society not merely as a public duty but because she had a genuine fondness for children. It was one of her specific wishes in offering Olveston to the citizens of Dunedin, that children should be encouraged to enjoy the Theomin family home. During the war of 1939-1945, she was active in the Red Cross and there are still people about who remember with warmth her food parcels and her letters of encouragement, especially to prisoners of war. All her life, Dorothy Theomin continued the interest of her father in art and music. Like David Theomin, she had a good singing voice and she was a competent pianist and accompanist. She was a member of the Dunedin Public Art Gallery Council and was Vice-President from 1954 to 1957 and President from 1957 to 1959. She was an enthusiastic traveller and even after her family had died, she continued to make journeys to Australia, Britain and Europe. After her father died, Miss Theomin continued to live at Olveston for a further thirty-three years until shortly before her death. When Dorothy Theomin died on 11 October, 1966, aged 78, her will revealed that she had left Olveston and its contents in the care of the City of Dunedin, subject to certain conditions being met. There was a period of uncertainty as to whether or not the City would accept the gift and it was largely due to the energies of a group of Miss Theomin's friends that Olveston was finally accepted as a property fit to become an historic home open to the public. The property was to be administered by the Dunedin City Council and the Dunedin Public Art Gallery Society. In August 1967, those bodies signed a Deed of Agreement that led to the establishment of the Theomin Gallery Management Committee which now administers Olveston. In October 1967, just a year after Miss Theomin died, the house was opened to the public and became a part of Dunedin's rich historic heritage. Interest in the house was confidently expected from local people and from New Zealand visitors to Dunedin. Few could have foreseen that it would become so great an attraction to travellers from every part of the world. Late in 1989, a lady from Munich, all unsuspecting, joined the 9.30 morning tour of the house and found herself feted as the millionth visitor. She was presented with a silver-plated salver, suitably engraved, to commemorate the event. Despite their active interest in the community where they lived, the Theomin family valued their privacy. We have kept this in mind as we have collected and organised information about them. As time goes by and Olveston grows more famous internationally, it is inevitable that our benefactors will be subjected to more scrutiny. We owe it to them as human individuals like ourselves, to be sure that what we convey to the world is simple and true. That is, after all, neither more nor less than the basis of sound history-making.