Pages tagged with: health

The School of Radiant Living was a movement active in New Zealand from the late 1930s until the late 1980s. Founder Dr Herbert Sutcliffe taught a holistic philosophy of physical, psychological and spiritual health.

Just over ninety years ago, in November 1918, New Zealand was in the grip of its worst-ever disease outbreak. A lethal influenza pandemic killed more than 8600 people in two months. No other event has claimed so many New Zealand lives in such a short time.

By the late 1940s all New Zealand children had a medical examination on entering school, and were seen by a nurse at standards two and six. These examinations helped identify those who were not 'thriving' in their home environment.

Rest time in the boys' dormitory, Otaki Health Camp, c. 1945

Biography of the founder of the School of Radiant Living in New Zealand

The dining room of the Otaki Health Camp in the 1940s

The teachings of Radiant Living were complex and involved holistic psychological, physical and spiritual health.

A boy receiving dental care at Te Kaha School, Opotiki Alexander Turnbull Library
John Dobree Pascoe Collection (PAColl-0783)
Reference: 1/4-001117; F
Further information and copies of this image may be obtained from the Library through its 'Timeframes' website, http://timeframes.

'On yonder hill you will pitch your tent' prophesied the daughter of Golden Dawn founder Robert Felkin to Herbert Sutcliffe, as she pointed towards Te Mata Peak.

Havelock North has long been a centre of 'alternative thought' or liberal theology in New Zealand.

Linton schoolboys delivering the school milk c. 1941

Radiant Living emerged from the American-based philosophical movement New Thought, which gained popularity in the late 19th century

School children enjoying their daily apple

One of the first New Zealand schools of Radiant Living was established in Auckland. Its secretary was Gertrude Hillary who reported progress early in 1939. Her son, Edmund, was an early student

To obtain physical fitness, it is of vital importance that the right mental attitude should accompany the food diet to enable the emotions, nerves and glands to co-operate with the healing processes of the body.

Many people believed that the second wave of the 1918 influenza pandemic arrived in New Zealand in the form of ‘a deadly new virus’ on board the RMS Niagara.

Colour, beauty, exquisite artistry find joyous expression in the Art of Salad Making. The homemaker who serves salads so deliciously and artistically tempting that the family cannot resist is thereby blessing all with the glorious gift of health.

More than 14,000 New Zealanders were wounded between June and December 1917 in Belgium, and medical staff, orderlies, chaplains and stretcher-bearers worked round the clock to tend them.

Men from the malarial control unit spray a pool in the Pacific

Wounded men are evacuated from Anzac Cove by boat

The Auckland School of Radiant Living was founded in 1938, and this was one of the first of these schools established in New Zealand. Everyone in the Hillary family was a member.

Charles Begg was New Zealand's most decorated member of the Medical Corps during the First World War. He played a major role in the treatment of troops during the 1915 Gallipoli campaign.

A German medical examination kit souvenired during the battle for Passchendaele in 1917.

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.

Emergency ambulances alongside the Wellington Town Hall during the 1918 influenza pandemic.

22 people died from influenza at Dunedin's Seacliff psychiatric hospital during the 1918 pandemic.

Robert Makgill was to play an important role during the 1918 influenza pandemic and its aftermath,

Robert Makgill was a key figure in the development of New Zealand's public health system. He was one of the country's first district health officers and was to play a crucial role during the devastating 1918 influenza pandemic and its aftermath.

These images show New Zealand soldiers being cared for at an Advanced Dressing Station, wounded being brought in by stretcher-bearers and an ambulance being loaded at a casualty clearing station.

Tending to the wounded on or near the battlefield was a huge job, and one that was done under the most difficult conditions.

Two soldiers grab an the early morning shave in the New Zealand support lines in 1918.

A woman describes the importance of the work of nurses and of the Red Cross in training them.

As adults fell to influenza, children were called upon to help with deliveries and other chores.

Many children were made orphans by the pandemic. For others it was just an extended holiday from school.

One man tells of the terrible situations his family faced during the pandemic.

The effects of influenza sent some people 'raving mad'.

All sorts of remedies were tried to cure victims of the pandemic. Many were of little use.

The sound of ambulances carrying the dead and dying was constant during the worst of the pandemic.

Those suffering from influenza had little interest in celebrating the end of the First World War.

When victims of influenza died, their bodies turned black as if they had the plague.

An influenza medicine depot in Christchurch for poor people

In what looks more like a cowshed than a medical facility, Christchurch citizens line up in an inhalation chamber for a dose of zinc sulphate. Like many supposed cures for the flu, it probably did more harm than good.

In July 1915, during the Gallipoli campaign, Ettie Rout set up the New Zealand Volunteer Sisterhood and invited women between the ages of 30 and 50 to go to Egypt to care for New Zealand soldiers.

A Red Cross marked out at 7 General Hospital

Death rates in South Island towns and counties from the influenza pandemic

There were more than 9000 beds for wounded and ill American servicemen in New Zealand. One of the largest hospitals was the naval base hospital at Silverstream

Members of the New Zealand 5th Field Ambulance attending to German paratrooper

Eleanor Roosevelt chats with the wounded at the hospital at Silverstream