Catherine Hill
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Catherine Hill (28 August 1893 – 12 August 1983) was a maid and
beneficiary A beneficiary in the broadest sense is a natural person or other legal entity who receives money or other benefits from a benefactor. For example, the beneficiary of a life insurance policy is the person who receives the payment of the amount of ...
who became a well-known eccentric character on the streets and at the railway station of
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in New Zealand. Hill was born in Brunnerton in New Zealand's West Coast region on 28 August 1893. Her family called her Kitty or Katie. She worked as a live-in maid at a boarding house in Greenwood Street, Frankton, Hamilton, in the 1920s. It appears that she also lived in
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and
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in the 1930s. She returned to Frankton during World War II, where she lived on an invalid's benefit. She became a familiar figure on the streets of Frankton and frequented the Hamilton railway station in Frankton. She was known as "Coffee and Bun" for her habit of ordering coffee and a bun at the station. Despite rumours that she was at the station waiting for a fiancé or son who had been killed in a war, a family friend confirmed there was no truth to this. Hill died in 1983 and was buried in the Hamilton Park Cemetery.


References


Further sources

* Frankton Oral History Project. Tape recordings. History Department,
University of Waikato The University of Waikato (), established in 1964, is a Public university, public research university located in Hamilton, New Zealand, Hamilton, New Zealand. An additional campus is located in Tauranga. The university performs research in nume ...
,
Hamilton Hamilton may refer to: * Alexander Hamilton (1755/1757–1804), first U.S. Secretary of the Treasury and one of the Founding Fathers of the United States * ''Hamilton'' (musical), a 2015 Broadway musical by Lin-Manuel Miranda ** ''Hamilton'' (al ...
*
Dictionary of New Zealand Biography, Catherine Hill
1893 births 1983 deaths People from the West Coast Region New Zealand domestic workers Burials at Hamilton Park Cemetery {{NewZealand-bio-stub