# Royal New Zealand Nursing Corps

The Royal New Zealand Nursing Corps (RNZNC) is a corps of the New Zealand Army. The corps was initially formed in 1915 from civilian nurses who volunteered for service during World War I, and who were granted honorary officer ranks. A Nursing Reserve had been formed as part of the New Zealand Medical Corps on 14 May 1908. Today, the corps is an officer-only corps that consists of commissioned officers who are employed for their specialist skills and knowledge as registered nurses, the corps works in conjunction with the Royal New Zealand Army Medical Corps and the Royal New Zealand Dental Corps to promote "health and disease prevention" and to provide "care for the wounded and sick". Nursing Officers in the New Zealand Army can be employed broadly in primary health, perioperative, surgical or emergency settings, which can see RNZNC personnel providing health services in a garrison health centre, in a civilian practice, or deployed on operations.
Up until 1945, the corps was a part-time only formation with personnel being called up for full time service during times of war only. However, since then the RNZNC has developed into a corps of both Regular and Reserve personnel. Throughout the corps' history, personnel have been deployed to various operational theatres. Aside from service during World War I and World War II, the corps has deployed personnel support to operations during the Vietnam War, and more recently to peacekeeping operations such as those in Bosnia and Somalia in the 1990s, the 1991 Gulf War, the East Timor intervention, Bougainville, Iraq and Afghanistan.

## New Zealand Nurses: Samoan Expeditionary Forces 1914

* Bertha Grace Nurse
* Fanny Wilson
* Vida MacLean
* Louise Alexa McNie
* Evelyn Brooke
* Louise Elizabeth Brandon
* Ida Willis

## Leadership

| | Name | Term start | Term end |
| Matron-in-chief (1915–1957) ||||
| 1 | Hester Maclean RRC | 7 August 1910 | 9 November 1923 |
| 2 | Jessie Bicknell ARRC | 10 November 1923 | 31 March 1931 |
| 3 | Fanny Wilson RRC | 7 May 1931 | 4 July 1933 |
| 4 | Ida Willis OBE ARRC ED | 5 July 1933 | 22 February 1946 |
| 5 | Eva Mackay OBE RRC ED | 23 February 1946 | 14 August 1954 |
| 6 | Doris Brown (Milne) RRC ED | 15 August 1954 | 31 December 1957 |
| Principal matron (1958–1977) ||||
| 1 | Christina McDonald RRC | 1 April 1958 | 21 August 1964 |
| 2 | Mary Wilson RRC | 22 August 1964 | 29 April 1970 |
| 3 | Lois Jones ARRC | 29 April 1970 | 17 May 1977 |
| Lieutenant colonel (1977–1991) ||||
| 1 | Helen Macann RRC | 18 May 1977 | 14 July 1983 |
| 2 | Noeline Taylor ARRC | 14 July 1983 | 1 March 1985 |
| 3 | Thursa Kennedy RRC | 1 March 1985 | 3 June 1991 |
| Chief nursing officer (1991–present) ||||
| 1 | Daphne Shaw RRC | 1 July 1991 | 1 January 1997 |
| 2 | Diane Swap MNZM | 2 January 1997 | 23 June 2002 |
| 3 | Gerard Wood CStJ | 24 June 2002 | 12 December 2007 |
| 4 | Maree Sheard | 13 December 2007 | 10 December 2012 |
| 5 | Lee Turner | 10 December 2012 | ? |
| | Michelle Williams | | |
| | David Foote | December 2023 | present |

## Order of precedence

| Preceded byNew Zealand Army Physical Training Corps | New Zealand Army Order of Precedence | Succeeded by |