The first nurse

New Zealand has many firsts that we can be proud of - including that the first registered nurse in the world was a Kiwi.
Ellen Dougherty was born on September 20, 1844, in Cutters Bay, Port Underwood in Marlborough to whaler Daniel Douherty and his wife Sarah.
When she was about five the family moved to Wellington where Daniel became a harbour pilot.
Life could be rough and isolated and Ellen and her siblings grew up in boats and exploring the bush and becoming accomplished riders. Part of their education came from reading from their father’s library, where Ellen likely learned about Florence Nightingale for the first time.
After her father died in 1857 they moved to a boarding house which her mother ran in Ghuznee St.
It is believed that before nurse training, she worked with Charles Barraud in his Wellington pharmacy, one of the first in the country.
She went into a job at Wellington hospital in 1885 and completed her certificate in nursing in 1887 studying elementary anatomy and physiology.
Ellen became the head of the hospital’s accident ward and ran the surgical ward.
After being passed over for the position of matron, she accepted a job as matron of the Palmerston North hospital but arrived to find money was scarce and there were little supplies. Her very first job was organising sewing bees to get sheets, pillow-cases and bandages.
It was beyond busy. Palmerston North was the centre of construction for the main trunk railway line and she had to set broken limbs, dress wounds, and on occasions amputate an arm or a leg. She also ran the hospital's dispensary so in 1899 was formally registered as a pharmacist.
Then in 1901, New Zealand was the first country to start separate legislation for the registration of nurses. The first person on that list was Ellen.
She retired in 1908 back to Carterton to be near her family. She had never married.
Ellen died on November 3, 1919 and is buried in Clareville Cemetery in Carterton.
With thanks to Julie who nominated this amazing woman for a story.​