Nursing Journal celebrates its centenary

24 January 2008

Kai Tiaki Nursing New Zealand, the national magazine for nurses, celebrates its centenary this month. Next to the School Journal, Kai Tiaki is the second longest continuously published journal in the country and one of the very earliest to adopt a Maori name. Its bound volumes, dating back to January 1908, are considered an important source of social as well as nursing history.

To mark this nursing and publishing landmark, a special centennial issue is being distributed to the 40,000 members of the New Zealand Nurses Organisation, with an official launch in Wellington on January 31. This will be attended by nursing leaders from around the country, along with the members of NZNO’s board of directors, and current and former editors.

Helping to capture the significance of the occasion will be actor Ginette McDonald, taking the role of the founder and first editor of the journal Hester Maclean. An Australian, Maclean was appointed to the government role of assistant inspector of hospitals and deputy registrar of nurses and midwives in New Zealand in 1906. She was editor of Kai Tiaki for its first 25 years and is recognised as one of the key figures in the history of the development of nursing in this country.

“For 100 years, Kai Tiaki has been the best vehicle for communicating New Zealand nursing wisdom, learning, practice and opinion to New Zealand nurses,” the journal’s present editors Teresa O’Connor and Anne Manchester said. “We, like Hester Maclean, owe a debt to history to ensure we present a real, not a sanitised version of events. Although some reportage and articles published during the last few years have caused some discomfort and disagreement, that is as it should be, for nursing is not and never has been a homogeneous profession.

“It is fascinating to observe, through the pages of the journal, how the past can bring a fresh perspective on the present. Much has changed in the nursing profession, but much has stayed the same as well,” said O’Connor and Manchester.

The issue features two award winning essays: a 4000-word clinical research article and a 2000-word essay on the importance of writing for publication. There is also an article by nurse historian Pamela Wood examining Kai Tiaki’s historical lens; “Down the decades”, a collection of news items, advertisements and comments capturing the essence of former nursing eras; tributes from nursing leaders and former editors; and a timeline of significant dates in the history of the journal and nursing.

ENDS