I recently had the privilege of visiting Janet Frame’s house at 56 Eden St, Oamaru in the South Island of Aotearoa New Zealand (Te Wai Pounamu). The house is not open from November to April but the curator kindly opened it up and gave us a tour. It’s a very modest house which has been thoughtfully presented to the public by the Janet Frame Trust.
The Eden St house is not a restoration, instead it might be described as a ‘reframing’ which draws on a ‘mixture of facts and truths and memories’ like the first volume of Frames’ autobiography To the Is-land.
Unlike many writers’ house-museums or centres, this one was informed by the author herself, who lived long enough to see it come into being. Frame mentioned that she liked curved rose beds so they created one in the front garden which was not present when she was living there as a girl. The Janet Frame Trust also had access to memories of family members to help re-stage the house with the right spirit, if not an exact re-creation.
The family is still remembered by older members of the community which is both a constraint and an advantage. People still bring their stories of the family when they visit the house, often recalling their tragedies and battles with illness – and more judgementally, the perceived disorderliness of the housekeeping.
A bedroom at the back of house contains a wardrobe containing an old serge school uniform recalling the stained, worn one she refers to in To the Island (and reproduced in Jane Campion’s bio-pic An Angel at My Table) The hand-me-down uniform was uncomfortable, creating embarrassment for Frame, and signalling the family’s lack of means.
Reading and writing were always there for Frame escape into, despite the family tragedies (two of her sisters died while swimming) There’s a writers’ desk set up as if it were hers, although she would not have used one in this place when she was living there. Facsimiles of notebook and early school essay is next to a typewriter and twig pencils, glue paste and an ink bottle.
There are quotes from her books framed on the walls which serve to usher visitors into the work even if they’ve never tried one of her books, if only for the time that they visit the house. Like many writers’ houses, it represents the desire to keep her memory alive through a mix of fantasy, recreation and goodwill.
Rear bedroom containing wardrobe with school uniform and hat
Writing desk overlooking the back garden, with visitor’s book to the right
Siting Writers 