On October 23rd, 2015 a small plaque was unveiled at the hospital monument near the Waimate District Council. The plaque commemorates the nurses and nursing orderlies who lost their lives in the Marquette disaster 100 years earlier. Of 36 nurses aboard, 10 died, many of the nurses came from Southland, particularly from Waimate and the surrounding areas.
The plaque was purchased by nurses from Lister Home in Waimate, as a result of a fundraiser where they made First World War nurse veils to sell. Funding was also supplied by the Waimate District Council Heritage Fund and Rotary.
The plaque was placed on the larger Hospital memorial because the Marquette was also memorialised there through the Marquette Ward. It was unveiled by Eileen Black, a former nurse of that ward.
South Canterbury Herald, 14 October 2015; The Courier, Timaru, 15 October 2015; Otago Daily Times, 26 October 2015
Images: Waimate District Council 2015