Catherine Mary Ann Adamson

Catherine Mary Ann Adamson (née Friend, 13 October 1868 – 9 August 1925) was a New Zealand homemaker, farmer and diarist. Her diaries, which she wrote from 1895 to 1906, are a rare historic record of pioneer life in the Westland District of New Zealand.

Early life Adamson was born in Fitzroy, Victoria, Australia, on 13 October 1868. Her parents were Samuel Friend, a labourer, and Ann Elizabeth Langham. When she was a baby, the family travelled to New Zealand and settled in Ōkārito, then the centre of commerce of Westland. She only briefly mentioned her own personal feelings and experiences; on the day of a son's birth in 1899 she made a record of the work being done on the farm by the men. In 1901 her son became ill and died. She wrote in her diary: "my Darling's funeral took place ... Family all came home leaving our Darling in God's world". Another of her children died in 1906.