Kāpiti and Coast Independent – Page 353 – The thinking persons' newspaper

London Quake Lecture

EXPERT SAYS NO HIGH BUILDINGS 100% SAFE IN MAJOR SHAKE A New Zealand earthquake expert has told a London lecture […]

9 years | Uncategorized

TEACHING AND LEARNING

Kapiti Schools Celebrate Education By Peter Corlett 11th October 2011 A photo and art display in the Coastland Mall […]

9 years | Kapiti Coast

Shock valuation figures

Kāpiti Coast properties and land go down in value Property and land values have dropped throughout the Kapiti Coast and […]

9 years | Uncategorized

Tui or Water?

Anti-meter Petition Hits State Highway on Kapiti Coast By Alan Tristram The anti- water meter campaign has taken to the […]

9 years | Uncategorized

HENS CAGED FOR LIFE?

Greens Ask Govt to stop supporting cruel hen cages 4th October 2011 In a recent Horizon opinion poll eight out […]

9 years | Conservation

Rowan v. Elliott

Mayor Jenny lashes out at critic as water meter petition total soars Kapiti’s Mayor, Jenny Rowan, has lashed out at […]

9 years | Uncategorized

MAORI SPORT FESTIVAL

First Traditional Maori Sport Festival From Sport Wellington Ki O Rahi, and Wellington, Were Winners On The Day The first […]

9 years | Sports

KAPITI CANINE CRACKDOWN

Council starts purge of unregistered dogs KCDC’s animal controllers are starting to seize and impound unregistered dogs this week. Kāpiti […]

9 years | Uncategorized

Hekia Hails Crimebusting

Offences down by 5 per cent in Kapiti-Mana Government figures show recorded crime in Kapiti-Mana has dropped by 4.8 per […]

9 years | Uncategorized

Expressway Democracy

Road process shatters Beth’s faith in democracy Since hearing the news that our home is to be “acquired” and bulldozed […]

9 years | Uncategorized

Doubts about EU

Should the UK Jump Ship from the EU? Big majority say ‘Yes!’ after debate By Tom Aitken in London […]

9 years | Uncategorized

Govt. Agency Blamed

Transport Agency head blamed for part in SH1 death at Otaihanga blackspot A ‘Save Kapiti’ organiser has launched an unprecedented […]

9 years | Uncategorized

STORY OF THE WEEK

The reinstatement of $411,000 for new library books in the proposed annual plan has been welcomed by Councillor Bernie Randall and Deputy Community Board Chair Guy Burns.

Board deputy chair Guy Burns

Cr Bernie Randall

They say the Covid-19 lockdown has shown the community the value of books and reading.

Communmity Board helped lead the way

In December the Paraparaumu/Raumati Community Board passed a resolution urging the Council to restore the total library book budget in the annual plan.

THIS MONTH 123 Years Ago

Margaret Cruickshank became the first woman to be registered as a doctor in New Zealand in this month in 1897..

From 1897 to 1918 she served the small South Canterbury community of Waimate. She worked tirelessly during the 1918 influenza pandemic but eventually caught the disease herself and died on 28 November 1918.

Margaret Barnet Cruickshank and her twin Christina were born at Palmerston, Otago, in January 1873. After their mother's death in 1883 the twins attended school on alternate days so one could stay home to care for the five younger children in the family. In the evening the other taught her twin what she had learnt that day.

After attending Palmerston District High School, Margaret went to Otago Girls' High School, where she was joint dux with her sister. Christina Cruickshank gained an MA and MSc at the University of Otago and became principal of Wanganui Girls' College. Margaret attended the University of Otago Medical School. In 1897 she became the second woman in New Zealand to complete a medical course - a year after her friend Emily Siedeberg.

Margaret then accepted a position as assistant to Dr H. C. Barclay of Waimate, and on 3 May 1897 became New Zealand's first registered woman doctor. Apart from a year's study in Britain in 1913, she worked in the town for the rest of her life, eventually becoming a partner in the practice. Her dedication to her work made her immensely popular in the small South Canterbury community.

In 1914, with Barclay away on active service, Margaret carried the full burden of the practice and shared the role as hospital superintendent. She also organised the local work of the Waimate Red Cross Fund. When the 1918 influenza pandemic struck she began working day and night, in many cases providing services well beyond those expected of a doctor. The son of her housekeeper recalled:

Where the mother was laid low, she fed the baby, prepared a meal, and in many cases where whole families were laid low she would milk the family cow to obtain milk for their sustenance.

Margaret caught influenza herself and died of pneumonia at Waimate on 28 November 1918. She was one of 14 New Zealand doctors who lost their lives during the pandemic. In 1923 the people of Waimate unveiled a 3-m-high memorial statue to her in Seddon Square, inscribed 'The Beloved Physician/Faithful unto Death'.

The maternity ward at Waimate Hospital was named in her honour in 1948. And in 2007 the Ministry of Health named a pandemic preparedness exercise 'Exercise Cruickshank' in recognition of her work during the 1918 influenza pandemic.