Spanish Medical Aid Committee poster

A leaflet produced by the Christchurch branch of the Spanish Medical Aid Committee (SMAC) during the Spanish Civil War.

The only organised contingent from New Zealand to the Spanish Civil War was of three nurses, René Shadbolt, Isobel Dodds and Millicent Sharples. They were recruited by SMAC and were used as promotional tool by the organisation. Their photographs were used on posters (such as here), and their letters home were printed in newspapers and in SMAC's regular newsletter. When Shadbolt and Dodds arrived back in New Zealand in January 1939 they continued to work for SMAC, embarking upon a six-week speaking tour to raise awareness of and money for the hundreds of thousands of Republican refugees in France.