Vida MacLean was a born nurse. Trained at Wanganui Public Hospital from 1905 to 1908, Vida MacLean served with the New Zealand Army Nursing Service in Samoa, Egypt, and England during the First World War. This nurse’s uniform was worn by her while on active service.

The hot climate uniform consists of a long grey cotton dress with Army rank denoted in red stripes on the sleeves, a long apron, and a short red felted cape. It was practical, easily washed, and professional looking. Remember, however, that the dress would have hidden bulky cotton petticoats, long woollen stockings and heavy leather shoes, hellishly hot in an Egyptian climate.

The official badge of the NZANS, a red cross enclosed within a silver fern surmounted by a crown, was worn on both outdoor and working uniforms.

In August 1914 Sister MacLean sailed on the SS Monowai to Samoa, then occupied by German troops. In Apia, she set up facilities for the treatment of sick and wounded. She then joined the New Zealand Army Nursing Service and served at the New Zealand Hospital in Cairo, running the isolation block that dealt with infectious diseases, rampant amongst the sick and wounded New Zealand servicemen serving in the Middle East. In 1916, Sister MacLean moved to England to serve in the No 1 New Zealand General Hospital at Brockenhurst, and was eventually promoted to Matron.

Sister Vida was mentioned twice in dispatches, in 1916 and 1918. She proved her worth at the front and in the large hospitals that cared for the thousands of wounded and ill. Vida returned to New Zealand to hold different senior nursing and teaching posts. She spent 1938-1955 in Calcutta, developing and running mother craft services and clinics, retiring to Whanganui where she died in 1970.

Nurse’s Uniform, 1914-1918
Made from cotton and wool
Maker unknown
Gift of Good Health Wanganui Ltd (Now Whanganui Hospital), 1995
WRM 1995.44.33
Photographed by Kathy Greensides

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