Memories & Dreams: A
Biography of Nurse Mary Kirkpatrick
by Noeline Kyle
Memories and Dreams is a
regional and local history tracing the journey of Belfast-born
immigrant Mary Kirkpatrick (nee Magee) from Ultimo, Sydney to Armidale and then to the
Macleay Valley. Nurse Mary Kirkpatrick (1862-1943)was the first trained midwife
and established the first private maternity hospital in the town of Kempsey. She
walked her midwifery beat for more than forty years, literally trudging daily
the streets and lanes of Kempsey and its hinterland. It is also a story of
women and friendship. More than thirty women practised midwifery between 1900
and 1930 in Kempsey. Nurse Kirkpatrick knew all of these women, she worked with
them, was friends and colleagues with most of them, competed with them, shared
resources and often her home with them. She worked too with local doctors.
All of their stories are in this book too ( including Matron Mary Gulliford,
Nurse Adelaide (Cook) McCarthy, Nurse Martha Norman, Nurse Agnes Rickerby, Nurse
Una (Tessier) Jemesen, Sister Phyllis Tyrell, sister Eva Hodgson, Dr Brabazon
Casement and Catherine Ramsay).....This is a woman's story, and how women
survived independently in country towns. This book is a family story but it is
also a story for and about the people and places of the Macleay. The book
certainly would not have been written without the help and interest of many
people in the town of Kempsey who continue to remember the work and contribution
of Nurse Kirk well.
Noeline Kyle
researched and wrote this biography of Nurse Mary Kirkpatrick over a period of
twenty years on a part-time basis. She is the great granddaughter of Nurse Mary
Kirkpatrick. Her mother Kathleen, her aunts Lorna and Jean, and uncle Slim Dusty
(David Gordon Kirkpatrick) are grandchildren of Mary
Kirkpatrick.
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Book Specifications for Memories and Dreams: Bibliography, Index ISBN 0 9578700 1 9 Printed on art quality paper Includes Illustrations, Maps, Photographs, Charts Paperback, Colour Cover 176mm x 250mm, 130pp |
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