Publisher's Synopsis
Victoria House in Wellington was New Zealand's first hostel for women students. Built in 1908 at 282 The Terrace, it was an unpretentious establishment. The bedrooms were small, sparsely furnished and cold; the food, like the student allowance, was carefully budgeted. But the students had fun - dancing in the common-room in the evening, and enjoying the heady freedom of being 'away from home'. The present Victoria House, to which male students were admitted in 1972, has comforts and amenities these early women would not have dreamed of. It has expanded well beyond its work-a-day beginnings. Drawing on conversations with former residents, and on carefully preserved records, Frances Porter has written a lively history.
