Western News: June 29, 2023

8
Thursday June 29 2023
The public feud between two of
SAINT: Nurse
Sibylla Maude
started what
would become
New Zealand’s
district nurse
programme.
TWO OF the city’s favourite
daughters once went head to
head in a public scrap that was
rather unbecoming of their
status as ‘saints in the making’.
The redoubtable nurse Sibylla
Emily Maude – originator
of what would become New
Zealand’s district nurse
programme and this country’s
answer to Florence Nightingale
– took on women’s suffragist
and mother of the nation,
Kate Sheppard, in a public
disagreement which resonated
in the letters to the editor pages
of the Christchurch Star and the
Lyttelton Times over the last few
days of 1898.
The interaction features in
Judith Devaliant’s book Kate
Sheppard: A Biography.
“The issue concerned an
anonymous woman who
had had the misfortune of
contracting what was clearly
a rather nasty disease,” says
Helen Osborne, property lead
for Te Whare Waiutuutu Kate
Sheppard House.
Kate Sheppard’s Ilam home is
today cared for by Heritage New
Zealand Pouhere Taonga.
“Suffragist Kate Sheppard
and fellow women’s advocate
Ada Wells wrote a letter to the
editor highlighting the plight of
the woman and her family and
describing her condition as ‘a
disease of loathsome form, the
details of which are so revolting
they cannot be here explained’.
The zealous duo petitioned
for the removal of the two sons
of the woman in question so
they could be lodged elsewhere
in healthier surroundings as
the boys were unable to isolate
themselves within the rather
pokey confines of their cottage.
They argued the sons were in
danger of becoming “a fruitful
source of contamination to
those with whom they come in
contact”.
Because the mother’s
condition was a chronic one,
the Charitable Aid Board had
advised it had done all it could
reasonably do. Both Sheppard
and Wells asked people to send
money to the newspaper to
help out if they possibly could,
adding “much could be said of
the pitiful life of the children
brought into hourly contact
with hideous disease, but we
refrain”.
“From 1885 all hospitals
were run by Charitable Aid
Boards whose role was partly
to assess patients to determine
whether they could pay for their
treatment. People assessed as
‘paupers’ were treated for free,”
says Osborne.
“Boards and some members
of the public were quick to
expose people they believed
were ripping off the system. The
way patients were perceived by
the Charitable Aid Boards was
very important. Sensitivities
about communicable diseases,
including venereal disease,
made public health and fair
access to treatment a hot
issue that left many women
particularly vulnerable.”
The Lyttelton Times started to
receive donations as a result of
the letter, and before long, it also
received another contribution
from a reader – a letter from
Maude, who had a few things to
say about the original Sheppard/
Wells letter. And when Maude
said something, people had a
tendency to sit up and listen.
Get out of the cold
and into art this winter.
Te Rā: The Māori Sail
8 July – 23 October
Experience the wonder of Te Rā, the only known customary Māori sail in existence.
Held in storage for many years at the British Museum, the chance to see Te Rā is a
deeply significant moment for all New Zealanders.
A partnership project between Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetū and Tāmaki Paenga Hira Auckland War
Memorial Museum. Image: Makers unknown Te Rā [the sail] (detail) c. 1770–1800. Harakeke, kererū, kāhu and kākā
feathers, dog skin. On loan from the Trustees of the British Museum. © Whakaarahia anō te rā kaihau Te Rā Project.
Photo: Cultural Heritage Imaging
Robin White: Te Whanaketanga | Something Is Happening Here
22 July – 5 November
A major survey of one of Aotearoa New Zealand’s best-loved artists, bringing together
more than fifty works to form what the artist describes as a “family reunion”.
Jointly developed by the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa and Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki.
Image: Robin White Mere and Siulolovao, Otago Peninsula (detail) 1978. Screenprint. Collection of Auckland Art
Gallery Toi o Tāmaki, purchased 2004
Free entry 10am – 5pm daily, Wednesday until 9pm
christchurchartgallery.org.nz
Strategic
partners