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Story: Hospitals

Medical students, 1890s

Medical students, 1890s

The first medical school in New Zealand was opened in Dunedin in 1875. These Otago Medical School students are shown in the anatomy room in the early 1890s. The first two female medical graduates in New Zealand are present – Margaret Cruickshank in the foreground and Emily Siedeberg, who was the first to graduate, behind her.

Using this item

Hocken Collections, University of Otago

Reference: S10-151b

Permission of the Hocken Collections Uare Taoka o Hakena, University of Otago, must be obtained before any re-use of this image. Further information may be obtained from the Library through its website.

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How to cite this page

Linda Bryder, Hospitals – The transformation of hospitals, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/en/photograph/27545/medical-students-1890s (accessed 4 June 2026).

Story by Linda Bryder, published 22 March 2011, updated 1 July 2022.

Comments

Elizabeth Turnbull
14 April 2014
I am searching for the date when my mother Iris Mary Young graduated as a registered nurse at Auckland Hospital. This was probably in the mid 1930s. Is there a register I can look up? She is shortly to be 100 years old and we are putting together her story and would be very grateful for any information you may have. Thank you. Elizabeth Turnbull (daughter)