When nurses volunteered during World War One, they had an integral role to play as officers in the military. However recognition as an officer was slow to come. This article published in Nursing Praxis in New Zealand in 1997 examines the battle undertaken by New Zealand’s military nurses to gain recognition as officers. The fight to win this battle took from just prior to World War One to mid-way through World War Two – twenty seven years. Issues such as male domination of the military and the government, the generally accepted work of women in war and the lack of knowledge concerning nursing’s professionalism combined to create a situation whereby practical recognition of the nurses did not take place until visual alterations were made to uniforms in 1941. Access the article here: [1] Reference: Clendon, J. (1997). New Zealand Military Nurses’ Fight for Recognition: World War One – World War Two. Nursing Praxis in New Zealand, 12(1), 24-28 |
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The Royal New Zealand Plunket Society | Hospitals | Nursing Uniform | Oral Histories
Military nursing uniforms are pictured on the NZANS New Zealand Army Nursing Service -- Royal New Zealand Nursing Corps website, established to recognise the nurses of NZ's military force, past and present, it includes a gallery of identified photographs of New Zealand nurses who served during WW1 onwards, with excerpts (including photographs) from the book co-written by Sherayl Kendall and David Corbett (1990), New Zealand Military Nursing: A History of the Royal New Zealand Nursing Corps, Boer War to the Present Day and the book written by Sherayl McNabb (2015), 100 Years - New Zealand Military Nursing: New Zealand Army Nursing Service - Royal New Zealand Nursing Corps: 1915 - 2015.