NZ Registered Nurse badge issued to Nina May Palmer in the 1900s
The Badge
The designer of the Five Pointed Star was Mrs Grace Neill, who was appointed assistant inspector of hospitals in New Zealand in 1895. Mrs Neill was successful in having the State Registration for Nurses Act passed in 1901, and was a foundation member of the International Council of Nurses. The badge was first issued in 1901.
The Five-Pointed Star badge of the New Zealand Registered Nurses was the recognised badge of those connected with Medicine and "originated with the Priests of the Temple of Isis...who had become a powerful body of healing... To secure admission of reliable and worthy men Oaths of Allegiance were sworn upon a representation of a five-point star... Each point of the star was of peculiar import representing volition, fidelity, or intellect and were explained to the candidate for admission as follows:
1. The Hand. That my hand shall be ever extended to help, comfort and relieve the sick and suffering.
2. The Foot. That my feet shall not falter, loiter or linger, when journeying to alleviate the suffering of the sick.
3. The Knee. That my knee shall bow in supplication to Almighty Ra, for aid in my endeavour to succour and relieve the sick and the suffering.
4. The Breast. That my breast shall be a safe and sacred repository for any secret entrusted to me or divulged during the sickness of delirium, or otherwise obtained.
5. The Head. That I will constantly pursue the study of the secret arts. That I will exercise my knowledge to the benefit of the suffering mental or bodily distress and that I will disseminate such knowledge among others that my preceptors may authorise and direct."
From: The Origin of the Five Point Star: Kai Tiaki : the journal of the nurses of New Zealand, Volume IX, Issue 1, January 1916, Page 42
Nina May Palmer
Following her training at the Wellington School of Nursing, Staff Nurse Palmer NZRN, served with the Greek Red Cross in Macedonia and Salonika during the Second Balkan War 1913. She was back in New Zealand at the outbreak of WW1 and made her own way to Marseilles where she joined the French Red Cross. She later served in France with the British Queen Alexandra's Imperial Military Nursing Service Reserve (QAIMNSR).
