Nancy Greenfield and the St Johns ladies in the archives. Photo/Michael Cunningham
Nancy Greenfield and the St Johns ladies in the archives. Photo/Michael Cunningham
Witty doctors' letters and articles about their reluctance to travel to Hikurangi are among items found showing the St John's presence in Whangarei as far back as the 1890s.
Whangarei St John Hospitaller Club members sorting through documents discovered an 1891 Income and Expenses for First Aid Balance Sheet, aswell as clippings from the Northern Advocate and entertaining letters dating back to 1891.
"Finding those pieces of paper was amazing. They've lasted all that time," said Nancy Greenfield, Hospitaller chairwoman and former superintendent of the St John nursing division.
The documents were in a box in the roof of the Western Hills Drive St John building and must have been put there when the organisation shifted premises in 1978.
The Whangarei St John Hospitaller Club started working on collating the items for the archives room five years ago. The room, which is nearly finished, has items such as old mannequins, uniforms, medals, badges and medical supplies.
Mrs Greenfield said her favourite items would have to be the early documents: "In the 1960s, doctors didn't like to travel to Hikurangi because of the distance - especially weekend calls."
The club has collated a 140-page timeline, mapping out events from 1891.
Some newspaper clippings, however, had no dates so it had been a case of matching them to the timeline, Mrs Greenfield said.
