TRANSPLANTED IRISH INSTITUTIONS - University of Canterbury

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that he had never been there. Concerning the allegation of being beaten by her husband,
she faced Fulton with her hands on the table "demanding whether she looked like a woman
who would take a beating from any man. "87 Such theatrics produced loud applause and
she further clinched the debate by putting to shame the slurs against her 'alleged' marriage
by producing yet more applause especially with her comment that "A more infamous and
more unmanly act than to throw suspicion on her marriage could not be accomplished by
any man, and he who could do that must have fallen so low in the human scale as to have
forgotten that he ever called a woman by the sacred name of mother." This was followed
by "long- continued applause and hostile demonstrations to Mr Fulton. "88
This
undermined Fulton's claims of being a gentleman. Auffray also asked why Fulton called
her a Yankee show-woman when she was actually born in Ireland. 89 The interplay between
Auffray and Fulton gave the audience some lively entertainment but it also highlighted
their different styles of speaking.90 All of these aspects helped to create a lively debate.
One of the winners from the debate was the Home for Fallen Women who were donated
£115. 91 At a farewell lecture after the already mentioned debate, the Orangemen of
Dunedin presented Auffray with an address thanking her for all her efforts and they
presented her with a silver salver. A petition was then read which was proposed to be
presented to both Houses of Parliament. Their call was for a public inspection of convents
because the petitioners believed that civil liberties were being violated. 92
This was in
870tago Daily Times. 3 March 1886.
88Op. cit., 'Is the "escaped nun" a fraud?' p. 19.
89rbid .. p. 19. These twists and turns in the debate showed that Fulton and the New Zealand Tablet who
under Moran's guidance republished these allegations against her, did not have a strong case against
Auffray. She won the debate unanimously and even forced Fulton to apologize about his references to her
marriage.
90 A description of Fulton's oratory is worth noting- "Mr. Fulton's chief strength lay in his resonance of
voice and a gesticulation so passionate as to involve some little personal danger to himself and those in
his immediate vicinity," Otago Daily Times, 3 March 1886. This energetic speaking was at times
comical, when at one point in the debate Fulton faced Auffray with clenched fists while she fanned herself
and looked cheerful. Ibid., 3 March 1886.
91 Press, 15 March 1886. The Press called it the Dunedin Female Rescue Home.
920tago Daily Times, 4 March 1886.