MEETINGS  

(Images & information as attributed, editor Judy Murphy)

 Click on photos to enlange & scroll down 

3 September 2025 

 

 

 

 

 

From left: Hannah Anderson Maurice Wilkins, James Wang  Maui Pomare 

Cindy Farquhar Against the Odds-New Zealand's First Women Doctors

                            Bruce Arroll Penicillin: Fleming to Florey to D-day 

13 August 2025 

Special event - The Doctor's Wife 

Hazel & Alan Kerr with film director Paula Whetu Jones & Glen Nathan. Whitiora Productions

2 July 2025 

 University of Auckland Waipapa Taumata Rau Medical Students-Medical Humanities Projects (Photos JM) 

From left: Sudikshya Parajuli  History of Anesthesia; 

Charlotte Tukiri History of the Ketogenic Diet

7 May 2025 

From left: A history of cataract surgery  presented by Charles McGhee;  A history of nitrous oxide presented by Shilpan Patel (Photos JM) 

 5 March 2025

From left:  Dr Philson presented by Iain Wakefield; Dr Thomas Moore Philson's trunk displayed  at EMDL; Vasalius -the origin of modern anatomy  presented by Ali Mirajalili. (Photos JM) 

7 November 2024

The Plan is the Plan. Failure is not an option 

Sir Ashley Bloomfield with Neil Anderson  (Photos JM) 

 

5 September 2024 

From left: Rod Ellis Pegler (Photos C Ducobu, JM), Brian McAvoy 

From left: A record ~ 100 attendees. Presenters Ricky Shen, Nadia Turner. (Photos JM) 

4 July 2024

Neil Anderson with presenters - Ngaire Kerse, Ted Richards, Megan McPherson, Karan Govindpani, Jessica Parr (Photos JM) 

 

2 May 2024

 Neil Anderson with Ben Kingsbury; John Collins; Neil Anderson with Tim Cundy   (Photos JM) 

 

14 March 2024 

Below: Felicity Goodyear-Smith, Cris Print, Poul Nielsen (Photos JM) 

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AMHS MEDICAL HISTORY PRIZE WINNERS 

2024 awarded to Friederike Voit

July 2023 Student presentations (Photos JM)  

Megan Kuan, Claudia Hall 

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS 2023-2024 

Frontline Surgeon: New Zealand Medical Pioneer Douglas Jolly. Mark Derby

(2024  Massey University Press) 

Jock Caughey: Physician and Humanitarian .Neil Anderson

2023 Mary Egan Publishing

The Best Country to GIve Birth? 

Midwifery, Homebirth and the Politics of Maternity in Aotearoa New Zealand, 1970–2022.

Linda Bryder (2023 Auckland University Press)

Click on respective book titles for details 

Images & information from publically available advertising material by respective publishers. 

DONATIONS

 Meetings are free but we rely on donations to support the Society. Please consider making a donation. See donations page. Online donations preferred. 

MAILING LIST 

Join our mailing list to hear about meetings   

Email your contact details to: AMHS Secretary  

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Our Health Journeys

A new national e-museum

An online platform for the sharing and collecting of stories 

(Image & information from Our Health Journeys)

DOCUMENTARY  

See link below for details of community screenings & bookings 

  The Doctor's Wife

 

HISTORY & HERITAGE

(Images & information as attributed, editor Judy Murphy) 

94 years serving the local community & the link with AMHS 

No other general practice in New Zealand has functioned for so long in the same premises.

In 1931 during the Depression, Dr Edward Roche & Dr Barbara Roche opened a general practice at 457 Mt Eden Road. Their gracious 1880s family home was ideal for their practice. The same practice founded 94 years ago, continues to serve the local community today as the Mount Eden Medical Centre (MEMC), 457 Mt Eden Road.

“It was right in the middle of the slump and things were very tough then. In our first month, we took £16. We stuck it out and eventually it was a big practice. In the first year, we made more money from playing cards, than we did from fees”.  Edward Roche. 

Edward Roche was a founder of the AMHS in 1964 with Laurie Gluckman & James Newman, and was the first AMHS president. Edward Roche transferred to Green Lane Hospital in 1944 where he was involved in developing ECG services & cardiac catheterisation.  His 1983 Green Lane Saga – Green Lane Hospital 1889-1982 was co-authored with his son, cardiologist  Dr Antony Roche. 

Click on links in blue text above and below:

Dr Tom Marshall’s recollections

Central Leader article 25 November 2011  (From MEMC archives) 

Mount Eden Medical Centre today

(Photo & information courtesy MEMC) 

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Early Medical Women of New Zealand

Stories from graduates 1896-1967

Emily Hancock Seidberg-McKinnon (1872-1968); (Image TeAra/teara.govt.nz): Margaret Cruikshank -statue at Waimate. (Image TeAra - teara.govt.nz) 

Against the Odds: New Zealand's First Women Doctors (2025).  Cynthia  Farquhar, Michaela Selway . (Image-Massey University Press. Refer to RNZ for interview podcast). Enquiries: c.farquhar@auckland.ac.nz

80th Anniversary of Cornwall Hospital

   

Heritage Day -24 February 2024 Commemorating Cornwall Hospital. Peter Stone & Judy Murphy. Group of visitors born at Cornwall Hospital. (Photos JM)

 39th General Hospital, built by Fletcher Construction for the US Army in Cornwall Park 1943. the 1000 bed/ 48 ward  hospital vacated by the Americans 1945; 23 pre-fabricated buildings were acquired by Auckland Hospital Board to establish Cornwall Hospital Obstetric & Gynaecological Unit.  (Became National Women's Hospital, opened 1955). See:  

-History of Cornwall Park Hospital  - Dr James Newman

-39th US General Hospital, Auckland WW2  - Dr Pat Clarkson available on request.

-Celebrating our past - timeline Cornwall Hospital (University of Auckland publication) 

-The Yankee Hospital: the 39th General Army Hospital  Isabella Wensley, Auckland History Initiative.)

 Cornwall Park c. 1943 (File photo)

(Images courtesy Auckland Museum)

New Zealand WW1 Medical Practitioners 

Dr Pat Clarkson with the Auckland War Memorial Museum Online Cenotaph team compiled a record of > 500 New Zealand doctors who served in WW1. (Records updated 2025) 

 NZ Doctors WW1 or Auckland Museum

Click on link above, then search icon (screen top right)

enter NZ Doctors WW1

New Zealand WW1 Nurses

 

Auckland Hospital nurse Charlotte (Lottie) Le Gallais was one 10 registered nurses (RNs) selected  to serve on the 1st voyage of the New Zealand hospital ship Maheno in July 1915; 550 New Zealand RNs served overseas with the New Zealand Army Nursing Service (NZANS).  

See  Auckland Museum then on "Search"  (top right screen) - enter "NZ Nurses WW1" 

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Lottie Le Gallais (images Auckland Museum Online Cenotaph);  names of 10 NZANS nurses drowned on torpedoed ship Marquette 1915 with 22 other NZrs.  (Auckland Museum Hall of Memories - photo JM)

Below: Hospital ship Maheno with signatures of the New Zealand  Medical Corps (NZMC)  and nurses (NZANS) on board. (Photo JM from EMDL collection) 

 

The Ernest & Marion Davis Library 

www. EMDL /Kotuia

www. EMDL/ Te Whatu Ora

 

Coats of Arms presented to the EMDL (Universities & Medical Colleges).  EMDL collection- photo JM. 

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Photos JM

Left: 2024 EMDL collection with Helen Taber 

Right: 2022 Auckland Museum visitors with EMDL librarian Victoria Bell,  (centre) 

Special Interest talk- with curator Juliet Hawkins, veiwing the  c.1880 Homeopathic Medicine Chest  (Photo JM)