The history of New Zealand’s child health service Plunket will be the subject of a colourful display at the Waikouaiti Coast Heritage Centre from today.
Plunket was formed in 1907 following a public meeting called by a Dunedin doctor, Truby King.
Dr King (later Sir Truby King) was concerned about the child mortality rate and the lack of help and advice available to new mothers. The date of the first meeting was May 14, 1907, now known as Founder’s Day.
Waikouaiti Coast Heritage Centre committee chairman Ian Waters said the exhibition was a tribute to the creation of the Plunket Society at Karitane, the birthplace of the movement, founded by Dr King.
"It’s about celebrating the work he did in putting the power in women’s own hands.
"He helped to organise a committee, and then a society, and branches of Plunket throughout Otago, which served the purpose of training Plunket nurses and looking after babies that were undernourished," Mr Waters said.
The name "Plunket" comes from the organisation’s first patron and staunch supporter, Lady Victoria Plunket, wife of the then governor-general and a mother of eight.
The exhibition features 5-1 scale models built by Mr Waters, including Plunket rooms and Dr King’s beach hospital at Karitane, where many babies were nursed back to health.
The hospital operated from 1907 to 1909 before it was relocated to the Dunedin suburb of Andersons Bay, Mr Waters said.
"It was originally in Dr King’s holiday beach house and he negotiated a property in Andersons Bay.
It was given by a very wealthy businessman called Wolf Harris who was an importer," he said.
The property included stables that became the first nursing hostel, where Dr King lived, and there were up to 30 babies within the first year being cared for there.
As the hostel grew "through the war years", Plunket expanded and was relocated to Andersons Bay, where it ran until 1978, he said.
The exhibition also features work from local artist Dinah Fear, who is also a volunteer at the museum.
Fear had painted murals of key Plunket locations, including the Andersons Bay Karitane Hospital and Dr King’s mausoleum on Melrose Hill in Wellington, Mr Waters said.
"Her work is fantastic and it brings things to life," he said.
The exhibition will be opened by Elyse Childs, the great-great-granddaughter of Joanna MacKinnon, the first-ever Plunket nurse.
The heritage centre will also show a five-minute film about her life and other items from the movement.
"Elyse Childs will talk about Joanna’s life and she’s got a real treasure trove, the first Plunket medal, so that will be on display."
The mortality rate of babies was the main driving factor for Dr King’s establishment of Plunket.
After a visit to Japan in 1904, where he observed that Asian babies were five times less likely to die in infancy than New Zealand babies, Dr King started producing his own milk and cod liver oil emulsions to help improve the health of babies.
The exhibition runs for 12 months.
