Over a
single week, prominent businessman and community figure O. F. Nelson
had lost his mother, one of his two sisters, his only brother, and
daughter-in-law. S. H. Meredith lost seven close relatives
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Margaret Cruickshank was the first woman to be registered as a doctor in New Zealand. She worked tirelessly during the 1918 influenza pandemic but eventually caught the disease herself and died on 28 November 1918.
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Dr Cruikshank was the first woman doctor to practise in New Zealand and
served in Waimate from 1896 to 1918. She died during the 1918 influenza pandemic and a memorial statue was unveiled in 1923.
This notice in the New Zealand Gazette gave special powers to all District Health Officers to close public gathering places that might cause the spread of influenza.
