NZRN Badge

New Zealand Registered Nurse qualification badge

New Zealand introduced its Nurses' Registration Act on 12 September 1901, one of the first countries to do so. Nurses who qualified for registration received the Five Pointed Star badge (sometimes referred to as the NZ Registered Nurses' Medal). To register nurses had to be 23 years of age and have had three years' training as a nurse in a hospital, including training in theory and practise and to sit a State Examination. On passing the examination and upon payment of 1 pound the nurses received a certificate and a badge inscribed with their name and the date of registration

Both Ella Cooke and Nina May Palmer were both registered nurses. May Palmer trained at Wellington Hospital and graduated in 1902 as number 19 on the New Zealand register while Ella trained at Auckland Hospital and qualified in 1910.

Collection Auckland War Memorial Museum Tamaki Paenga Hira, presented by James Watt, 2006.4.5