Brave Woman

NZ Truth, Issue 1207, 17 January 1929, Page 14

Brave Woman

VWE hear much about outposts of Empire and treasure a great deal of- admiration for heroes who face loneliness and hardship m far-away lands. But a white woman now living m the heart of the Urewera county migat be able to tell a tale of pluck and endurance equalling that of many a famous explorer. "Sister Annie" as sim i-* known "> the Maoris and to the few white men who pass her way, has spent three years as the only white woman m her district. Ruatohuna t,he tiny settlement where she lives, is about 150 miles south o f civilization. "Sister Annie" is district nurse and teacher m one and and her patients and pupils are all of the Maori race. The Urewera native is largely a primitive, and the small brown folk of "Sister Annie's" classes wander about m uniforms rivalling for brevity that of Gunga Din. Half- . wild turkeys, pigs, and sheep roam around the roads, which are such as to try the patience of the most enduring car. Though the Maoris have stuck to their old, .wild ways, the ills of civilization have not altogether passed them by and a tragic part of Sister Annie's life is" the number of sick babies who come under her care. But here, far from the pleasures and. comforts of the city, seeing her own kind only through the chance call of some car, one white woman is very gallantly upholding the claim of her race to championship of their native population.