2025 LECTURE SERIES
Click on heading above for details
5 March, 7 May, 2 July, 3 September, 5 November
AMHS special event at the Ernest & Marion Davis Library, Building 43, Auckland City Hospital.
Wednesday 13 August at 7pm
Read the story behind the making of this documentary by
(Click on link above)
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FROM 2024
President's Report Programme AMHS Medical History Prize
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MEETINGS
(Images & information as attributed, editor Judy Murphy)
Click on photos to enlange & scroll
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)
AMHS MEDICAL HISTORY PRIZE WINNERS
2024 Friederike Voit
July 2023 Student presentations (Photos JM)
Megan Kuan, Claudia Hall
DONATIONS NEEDED
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
RECENT PUBLICATIONS
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.
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A new national e-museum
An online platform for the sharing and collecting of stories
(Image & information from Our Health Journeys)
DOCUMENTARY
Click on link below for details of community screenings & bookings
Screening at The University of Auckland, Thursday 31 July, 6pm
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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(Images courtesy Auckland Museum)
New Zealand WW1 Medical Practitioners
Dr Pat Clarkson in collaboration with the Auckland War Memorial Museum Online Cenotaph team has compiled a record of more than 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 nurses selected to serve on the first voyage of the New Zealand hospital ship Maheno in July 1915; 550 New Zealand registered nurses 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
"Medical Memorabilia-an intriguing library & museum"
Coats of Arms presented to the EMDL (Universities & Medical Colleges). EMDL collection- photo JM.
Photos JM
Left: 2024 Some of the EMDL collection with Helen Taber
Right: 2022 Visitors from Auckland Museum with EMDL librarian Victoria Bell, (centre)
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. A small group of visitors born at Cornwall Hospital. (Photos JM)
The 39th General Hospital, built by Fletcher Construction for the US Army in Cornwall Park in 1943. In 1945 the 1000 bed/ 48 ward hospital was vacated by the Americans; 23 pre-fabricated buildings were then taken over by the Auckland Hospital Board to establish Cornwall Hospital, the Obstetric & Gynaecological Unit (renamed National Women's Hospital opened in 1955). See links to:
-History of Cornwall Park Hospital - booklet self published by Dr James Newman
-39th US General Hospital, Auckland WW2. 2015 - presentation by Dr Pat Clarkson available on request.
-Celebrating our past - a timeline of historical links with Cornwall Hospital (University of Auckland publication)
-The Yankee Hospital: the 39th General Army Hospital (Author Isabella Wensley, Auckland History Initiative.)
Cornwall Park c. 1943 (File photo)
Special Interest talk- with curator Juliet Hawkins, veiwing contents of the c.1880 Homeopathic Medicine Chest (Photo JM)
