Abstract:
By the middle of the 20th century, the health of almost all infants in New Zealand was overseen by infant health nurses employed by a nongovernmental organization, the Royal New Zealand Plunket Society. This had been set up in 1907 to combat poor infant health, specifically infant diarrhea, by educating mothers about feeding methods and hygiene in the home. Medical in origin, the organization was embraced by women, including the wife of the governor, Lady Plunket, whose name became associated with the Society. While the original intention of the Society was health education, an examination of the nurses’ work suggests a different story. They were involved in medical treatment as well as in providing material and emotional support to new mothers and their infants. It was the personal engagement of the nurses with mothers, in the home and in the “Plunket Rooms” (clinics), that ensured the success of this Society and its popularity among women, who were at once the nurses’ employers and clients.
