“New Zealand Nurses: Caring for Our People 1880-1950”: An Interview With Author Pamela Wood

Abstract

New Zealand nurses: Caring for our people 1880-1950, published in 2022 by Otago University Press, is authored by Pamela Wood, a nurse and historian. This article provides insight into the structure and content of the book, acknowledging its value in recording the history, proactive leadership, and practice of modern nursing as instigated by the British nursing diaspora. The book is carefully researched and engagingly written. It is explicitly limited to ‘modern’ nursing, drawing on written evidence published and archived within the colonial systems. The article draws on a conversation between Wood and Adams, both tauiwi (non-Māori) academics, exploring challenges, innovations, and paradigms of care at a time when colonising processes had already deeply harmed Māori communities. Rural, district, and Plunket nursing evolved with an intent to improve health outcomes, particularly for impoverished and underserved people; nurses practiced autonomously in isolated areas, engaging collaboratively with communities; and nurse leaders were politically active and determined implementers of change. While some stories from Māori nurses have been recorded, the voice and histories of Māori, te ao Māori (Māori worldview), and mātauranga Māori (Māori knowledge) is absent. It is time we redressed this omission, to give effect to Te Tiriti o Waitangi, and rewrote the future of nursing in Aotearoa New Zealand. Te reo Māori translation Ngā Ariā Matua Ko New Zealand nurses: Caring for our people 1880-1950, tētahi pukapuka i whakaputaina i te tau 2022 e Otago University Press, ā, ko te kaituhi ko Pamela Wood, he tapuhi, he kaituhi tātai kōrero. Tā tēnei tuhinga he hora māramatanga ki te takoto me ngā kai o roto i te pukapuka, e whakamihi nei ki āna hua mō te takutaku i ngā tātai kōrero, i ngā mahi hautū kakama a ōna kaiarataki, me ngā mahi tapuhi o te ao hou, i takea mai i ngā toronga o te ao tapuhi o Peretania ki ao whānui. He mea āta rangahau tēnei pukapuka, he tino pai hoki te āhua o te tuhi. Ahakoa ērā āhuatanga, kua whakawhāititia ki ngā mahi tapuhi ‘o te ao hou’ anake, me te koutu i ngā rangahau, i whakawhatatia hoki i roto i ngā pūnaha o ngā kāwanatanga tāmi whenua o tāwāhi. I takea mai te tuhinga i tētahi kōrerorero i waenga i a Wood rāua ko Adams, nō tauiwi ēnei mātanga rangahau, e tūhura ana i ngā pīkauranga, i ngā auahatanga, me ngā ritenga taurima tangata i te wā kua tino nui ngā wharanga o ngā mahi tāmi iwi ki ngā hapori Māori. I tupu mai ngā mahi tapuhi ā-tuawhenua, ā-takiwā, Plunket hoki i runga i te hiahia kia whakapikia ngā putanga hauora, otirā mō te hunga rawakore, te hunga kua wareware te tino aronga; i mahi ngā tapuhi i ngā rohe pāmamao, i mahi tahi me ngā hapori i runga i te wairua pāhekoheko; ā, i te kaha tonu ngā mahi tōrangapū o ngā tapuhi, he kaha ki te panoni tikanga. Ahakoa kua tuhia ētahi o ngā pūrākau a ngā tapuhi Māori, kei te ngaro te reo me ngā tātai kōrero o te tangata Māori, o te ao Māori me te mātauranga Māori i konei. Kua tae tātou ki te wā hei whakatika i tēnei korenga, kia whakatinanatia Te Tiriti o Waitangi, kia tuhia houtia hoki ngā mahi tapuhi i Aotearoa. Ngā kupu matua: arotake pukapuka, tāmi iwi, tātai kōrero tapuhi, hauora tuawhenua, tiaki toiora ā-whenua