Developing a Nursing Speciality - Plunket Nursing 1905 - 1920

Abstract

There are many factors that have shaped the development of nursing in New Zealand's history but one stands out more than most. Plunket nursing owes its origins to the mind of one of our country's most famous early medical men, Frederic Truby King. This idealistic zealot set out to improve the welfare of mothers and infants, creating a nursing role as he went. This paper focuses on the history of Plunket nursing and Truby King's ideology and other dominant ideologies, during the years 1905 - 1920. To provide a context for this, the paper explores the development of a new nursing speciality - Plunket nursing, that became part of the backbone of a fledgling health system and the New Zealand nursing profession. Correspondingly, Truby King presented the country with a vision for improving infant welfare underpinned by his eugenics view of the world and his experimentation with infant feeding. Nurses were drawn to the work of the newly created Plunket Society. They were keen to adopt its principles and to preach the gospel of its founder.