Nurse Gallie's Record

Waihi Borough Council Diamond Jubilee Booklet 1902-1962

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Nurse Gallie, then Mrs Gallie, wife of Mr Donald Gallie, well known as a Highland Piper in the early days, came to Waihi from Gisborne in 1896. She was "discovered" by Dr Wright when, in her kindy way, she was assisting a neighbour, pending the arrival of the doctor. Impressed by her magnificent physique and capable manner, Dr Wright persuaded her that midwifery was her vocation.

Gaining her certificate, Nurse Gallie then commenced a career during which time she brought 1400 babies into the world, as her case-book shows, and never lost a mother. Frequently she attended the daughters and grand-daughters of her earlier patients — a tribute not only to her efficiency but also to the esteem in which she was held.

Only Nurse Gallie's most intimate friends know how often during the days of industrial depression she had, in her great hearted generosity, taken her own bed linen to patients in poor circumstances and taken food to hungry children, in many cases accepting no fee for her services. Nurse Gallie walked many a mile on her way to cases in the outer parts of the town and later became a familiar figure as she rode her roan horse side-saddle through Waihi.