Mary Anne Reidy
Her contribution to backblocks nursing and the welfare of returned soldiers was recognised when she was made an MBE in 1956, and later when a room at the Te Awamutu RSA clubrooms was named after her.
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Leilah Gordon
In 1917 Leilah Gordon was appointed visiting nurse, under the Infant Life Protection Act 1907. In 1920, under the same act, she was appointed district agent for Otago. She was one of four officers appointed to each of the main centres. All children under six in Otago living with adults other than their parents were visited by her every few months. Most of these children were illegitimate and in poor health when they came into care. The mortality rate for illegitimate infants in the 1920s in New Zealand was high. But as a result of welfare intervention, among the hundreds of infants up to six years old living in foster care in Otago there were only three deaths between 1917 and 1926.
Marie Mildred Clay
Marie Clay was an influential literacy researcher and educationalist whose pioneering Reading Recovery programme changed the experience of learning to read for many children in many countries.
Martha King
Martha King was New Zealand’s first resident botanical artist.
Hester Maclean
She was largely responsible for drafting the Nurses and Midwives Registration Act 1925, which gave nurses a more direct role in nursing administration.
Jean Neill Erwin
When the New Zealand Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps was formed in 1942, Jean Erwin was appointed to the position of commandant, Southern Military District, with the rank of senior commander (equivalent to major).
Eileen Fairbairn
She is remembered for pioneering the teaching of modern geography in New Zealand secondary schools.
Mary Isabel Lambie
Her innovation helped shape the future of New Zealand nursing.
Eva Gertrude Brooke
Eva Brooke was a quiet, serious-minded woman, a patriotic nurse respected by both her staff and the doctors with whom she worked during World War I.
Sarah Dougherty
Sarah Dougherty was typical of many women of her time. That this small, auburn-haired woman had great physical and mental strength is borne out by her survival to a great age. Self-taught, a ‘well-informed woman,’ extraordinarily independent, she endured hardship, risk and isolation.