Kāpiti and Coast Independent

Poet Emeritus Gill Ward Is Back

Gill reports: ‘Well here I am after a long absence. The lockdown included my brain too. However I have done […]

6 hours | Uncategorized

Three NZ Police Charged With Manslaughter After Death In Custody

Police have today filed charges of manslaughter against three Police officers in the New Plymouth District Court. The charges relate […]

6 hours | Uncategorized

‘We Must Go to the Island’ Says Prophet

Geoffrey Churchman of Waikanae Watch reports on a new Messiah who has transmogrified in Kapiti — the Guru of the […]

1 day | Uncategorized

NZ Journalists Look At The Terrible Case Of George Floyd

Fourth-year journalism student Grace MacCormick and her journalism lecturer look at the life and death of George Floyd. Grace says […]

2 days | Uncategorized

Wellington Bus Drivers Celebrate Samoan Language Week

Metlink drivers across the Wellington Region donned Samoan shirts as they drove around the region in celebration of Samoa Language […]

3 days | Uncategorized

The Last Words of George Floyd– Now Sign the Avaaz Petition

These are the last words of George Floyd, a 46-year-old man who died as a US police officer pinned him […]

3 days | Uncategorized

Three Councillors Vote Against Gateway Project

Our reporter Jeremy Smith reveals three of 10 Kapiti Councillors –Martin Halliday, Gwyn Compton and Bernie Randall — voted against […]

5 days | Uncategorized

Council Approves Gateway to Kāpiti Island

The KCDC says the plan for a Kāpiti Gateway Building has passed a key test with the Council agreeing […]

5 days | Uncategorized

Chris Ruthe Issues Warning to KCDC –Shut Down the Kāpiti Gateway

Paraparaumu lawyer and campaigner Christopher Ruthe is warning the Council the Kapiti Island Gateway could be another burden for ratepayers. […]

1 week | Uncategorized

Local Author Warns Of Muller Mayhem

Well-known local author Karen Peterson Butterworth says National’s new leader Todd Muller presents well ( mostly — Ed), yet ignores […]

1 week | 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.