Andrew Fyfe, NZ centenary: Invaluable community service by St John Ambulance (23 Mar 1985). Aoraki Heritage Collection, accessed 03/10/2025, https://aorakiheritage.recollect.co.nz/nodes/view/7275.

Did you know Timaru helped shape the Red Cross in New Zealand, or that our St John volunteers carried more than 400 influenza patients during the 1918 epidemic? My latest history hunt began with Andrew Fyfe and ended up in Jerusalem, Malta, and right back at Caroline Bay, uncovering the women of St John whose stories are too often left in the margins.

Sometimes a story takes you places you never expect. I was digging into the Fyfe family recently, a family whose name threads through Timaru’s history in surprising ways. The Fyfes were connected to the blue stone quarries that built our landmarks, involved in schools where they gave back to education, and known for their passion for the outdoors. Andrew Fyfe himself was a mountaineer. Their story is one of work, grit, and community service.

Somewhere in the muddle of dates and details, I stumbled across a newspaper article by Andrew Fyfe, published in 1985, marking the centenary of St John in New Zealand. Here was another Fyfe, this time recording the story of St John Ambulance in South Canterbury.

That article included som interesting detail about Timaru’s St John story... the cycle stretchers, the bitter disputes over who controlled the Citizens Ambulance Hall, and the haunting days of the 1918 influenza epidemic. And it sent me on a history hunting journey: one that began with Fyfe, and has now carried me all the way back to Jerusalem, forward through Malta and Britain, and back again to Timaru’s streets. Along the way, I found myself looking for the people in the margins of history, especially the women to learn more about who we are today, by reflecting on our past...

Looking back, I can see that who we are today has been shaped by those who came before us — the women and men of St John who served quietly, often as volunteers, often without recognition. Their care, resilience, and willingness to step up in times of need remind me that our community is built on service. That is the legacy we carry, and the choice we still have to make today...

Hidden Hands in History: The First Sisters of St John

Picture Jerusalem around the year 1070. Pilgrims stream in, footsore and weary after dangerous journeys to the Holy City. Just outside the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, a small hospice opens its doors. Run by Benedictine monks, it offered food, shelter, and nursing care to strangers in a foreign land.

That hospice soon became a hospital. Its carers became known as the Hospitallers of St John. Crucially, they were not only men. From the very beginning there were sisters as well as brothers, women who lived under vows just like their male counterparts, and who played an essential role in caring for the sick and poor, whether Christian, Muslim, or Jewish.

When Pope Paschal II issued a bull in 1113 formally recognising the Order, it confirmed its independence and gave it the right to elect its own leaders. By then, the Hospitallers had grown into a religious and military order. While the knights defended pilgrims and fought in the Crusades, the brothers and sisters of St John continued their mission of hospitality and healing.

We often picture the knights in armour, but the real lifeblood of the Order was the quieter, unrecorded labour — women washing wounds, preparing food, offering comfort, and nursing the dying.

Malta: Healing in the Longest Ward in Europe

Fast-forward to 1530, when Emperor Charles V granted Malta to the Order of St John. For nearly three centuries, they ruled there until Napoleon expelled them in 1798.

During those years, they built one of the most advanced hospitals in Europe. The Sacra Infermeria in Valletta was famous for its “Great Ward,” the longest room in Europe in the 1700s. It had separate spaces for maternity care and infectious disease, a sign of just how far ahead the Order was in thinking about health.

Behind the grand stone walls, though, were not only knights in robes. Maltese women worked as caregivers, laundresses, and midwives. Their labour sustained the reputation of the Order as healers, even as its leaders carried titles and swords.

Britain and the Industrial Age: Opening the Door for Women

Jump again, this time to Victorian Britain. The factories roar, machines churn, and accidents are constant. Most workers cannot afford a doctor. Into this world steps St John with a bold new idea: teach ordinary people in first aid so accident victims can be treated on the spot.

By 1877, the St John Ambulance Association was running classes. By 1887, the uniformed Brigade was out in force, providing first aid at public events and disasters. In many towns, they were the first and only ambulance service available, right up until the National Health Service was created in the mid-20th century.

For women, I think this was a doorway that really mattered. Through the Nursing Divisions, women would have gained structured medical training and served publicly in uniform, something almost unthinkable a generation earlier. They cared for patients in their homes, at workplaces, and in communities where hospitals had too few beds. St John gave women a path into civic service and medical leadership long before most professions opened their doors.

Back home, New Zealand caught the St John flame in 1885, and Timaru formed its own branch in 1908. At first it was little more than haversacks and stretchers stored in shop cupboards. For seven years, a cycle stretcher bumped down Timaru’s streets until the first motorised ambulance, on a Darracq chassis, was purchased in 1915.

But reading through the newspaper article, it didn't appear to be all that smooth. In 1913, a bitter dispute erupted over ownership of the new Citizens Ambulance Hall. Accusations flew, charges were even sent to London, and the local brigade disbanded in November of that year. Within days, though, a new St John sub-branch was formed in Timaru, almost entirely with new officers. The hall was finally opened for use in January 1914, renamed the St John Ambulance Hall, and has remained under St John’s care ever since.

Crisis and Service: The 1918 Influenza Epidemic

This was the moment I hinted at earlier. The influenza epidemic of 1918 pushed Timaru’s St John to breaking point. In just five weeks, ambulances carried 222 influenza patients and clocked up 3000 miles. By the end of the year, the total carried was 413 patients.

So stretched were resources that even typists from the fire brigade and public works were told to drop their normal duties to help St John. Two vans worked day and night, one stationed on High Street, as volunteers risked their own lives entering homes filled with fever and fear.

Among them were the women of the Nursing Division, who cared for patients directly in their homes. It was not glamorous work. It was hard, dangerous, and deeply human.

Before the British Red Cross officially established a branch here in 1917, the Timaru division of St John, working with the Nursing Division and local citizens, was credited with organising the first Red Cross effort in New Zealand.

This local initiative became part of a global movement, but it started in small communities like ours, where ordinary people wanted to help wounded soldiers on the other side of the world.

At least one Timaru St John member gave his life in the war: Dr Thomas Ernest Wood, honorary surgeon of the Timaru Fire Brigade and active member of St John. He was killed by flying shrapnel while leading stretcher parties at Gallipoli in 1915. A plaque in the Timaru St John Hall still remembers his sacrifice.

Women in Leadership: Timaru, 1955

One of the treasures in Fyfe’s article is a photograph from 1955, when Lieutenant-General Sir Otto Lund, Commissioner-in-Chief of St John in the British Commonwealth, visited Timaru.

Lined up at Caroline Bay, front and centre, were women in uniform and leadership:

Miss I. E. Young, divisional nursing officer

Miss L. P. Butler, district nursing superintendent

Miss M. E. Marriott, divisional superintendent

Miss J. E. Hanan, district nursing officer

Mrs R. E. White, Mayoress of Timaru

Mrs A. Shorland

Their presence in the front rows tells us something vital. By the mid-20th century, women were not just serving quietly. They were leading publicly, their titles acknowledged alongside their male counterparts.

A New Chapter: Wai-iti Road, 2021

That legacy has not faded. In 2021, St John opened a new building on Wai-iti Road, described as the “home of emergency response in South Canterbury.” More than 500 people came to its open day. Purpose-built, with space for eight ambulances, youth services, and training rooms, it represents how far the organisation has come since the days of cycle stretchers.

Territorial manager Darryn Grigsby called it “a really positive day,” a building shaped by and for the community.

Modern ambulance  in 1925 

The Cost of Service – and How We Can Help

One thing Andrew Fyfe’s centenary article reminded me, and my own encounters with St John have confirmed, is that this service is not free. In New Zealand, St John is a charity. While it partners with government, around 80% of its funding comes from the community, through donations, fundraising, and the time given by thousands of volunteers.

My aunty, who worked as a paramedic in both New Zealand and the Netherlands, often remarked on how different the systems were. In the Netherlands, ambulance services are fully state funded. Here in New Zealand, the model relies heavily on community generosity and volunteer time. That difference amazed her, and it still amazes me.

It means the ambulances on our streets, the cadet programmes training our young people, the first aid courses, and the quiet support in times of trauma are all made possible because people give back.

It is humbling to think that for more than a century in Timaru, from haversacks and cycle stretchers, to the 1918 flu epidemic, to the new Wai-iti Road station, St John has been sustained by community goodwill. If we want this legacy to continue for another 140 years, we need to keep standing behind it.

If this story has reminded you of a moment when St John was there for you or your family, maybe today is the day to give that support back, whether through a donation, volunteering, or simply stopping to thank the people in uniform when you see them.

Why This Story Matters Today... 

Just the other week, I was in A&E with my daughter, who cracked her toe playing barefoot soccer. While we waited for the orthopaedic opinion on her X-ray, I got a glimpse into the hidden world of St John: the efficiency, the calm presence, the constant behind-the-scenes care that most of us never see. I can be oblivious to the world that happens in that part of the hospital, and the call outs our first responders go to.

I have had my own encounters over the years, some in traumatic circumstances. Each time, I have felt immense gratitude, not just for the medical help, but for the human kindness and the reassurance. It can imagine that it is not an easy job. But it must be a powerful and rewarding one.

Looking back at Fyfe’s 1985 article, tracing the international story, and standing in today’s ambulance stations, I have learned a few things:

• Continuity matters — from Jerusalem’s hospice to Timaru’s ambulances, there is a line of service that connects centuries.
• Women were always there — from the sisters in Jerusalem to the Maltese midwives and the Timaru nursing officers, women shaped St John at every stage.
• Community is built on volunteers — ordinary people giving their time and courage built this organisation.
• Heritage is personal — discovering Fyfe’s article was not just history, it was a bridge to my own lived experiences of St John.

As I write this in 2025, the 140th anniversary of St John in New Zealand, I think about what this history teaches me.

By following the thread, from Jerusalem’s sisters, through Malta’s great ward, to Timaru’s 1918 flu epidemic, and the new Wai-iti Road station, I have realised the story of St John is really about people. People who serve in quiet ways, often women, whose names do not always make the headlines but whose work saves lives.

And it makes me ask myself: how can I carry that spirit forward? What does it mean, in my own choices, to value service, resilience, and care?

History is not just about the past. It is a mirror. It helps me know myself better, and it nudges me to think about the future differently.

Side Quests (for another day…)

• Who were the women like Miss I. E. Young and Miss L. P. Butler outside of their St John uniforms?
• What stories lie behind Timaru’s first Red Cross effort, and the women who organised it?
• How did families in Timaru experience the 1918 influenza epidemic, and what role did St John play in their survival?
• Could we collect oral histories from those who served in St John locally before it is too late?
• And, circling back to the Fyfes, how does a family story that spans quarries, schools, mountains, and ambulance halls reveal the many shapes of community service?

 D E Drake, The ambulance is always on hand (07 Aug 1982). Aoraki Heritage Collection, accessed 03/10/2025, https://aorakiheritage.recollect.co.nz/nodes/view/7262

Timeline: St John and Timaru

Early Origins

• c.1070 – Hospice founded in Jerusalem by Benedictine monks to care for pilgrims.

• 1113 – Pope Paschal II recognises the Order of St John as independent. Both brothers and sisters serve the sick and poor.

Rhodes and Malta

• 1187 – Order driven from Jerusalem, relocates via Cyprus and Rhodes.

• 1530–1798 – Order governs Malta, runs the Sacra Infermeria, with Europe’s longest ward and maternity care.

• 1798 – Napoleon expels the Order from Malta.

Britain and the Industrial Age

• 1877 – St John Ambulance Association founded in Britain to teach first aid.

• 1882 – St John of Jerusalem Eye Hospital Foundation established.

• 1887 – St John Ambulance Brigade formed; volunteers provide first aid at public events.

St John in New Zealand

• 1885 – St John established in New Zealand.

• 1908 – Timaru branch founded; haversacks and stretchers stored in shop cupboards, with a cycle stretcher in use.

• 1913 – Dispute over ownership of the Citizens Ambulance Hall; local brigade disbands.

• 1914 – Hall reopens as the St John Ambulance Hall under community trusteeship.

• 1915 – Timaru acquires its first motor ambulance, built on a Darracq chassis.

Service and Sacrifice

• 1915 – Dr Thomas Ernest Wood of Timaru, honorary surgeon of the Fire Brigade and active in St John, killed by shrapnel at Gallipoli while leading stretcher parties. Memorial plaque later placed in Timaru St John Hall.

• 1918 – Influenza epidemic: Timaru ambulances carry 222 patients in five weeks, 413 in total, travelling 3000 miles. Typists and public servants reassigned to help. Women of the Nursing Division care for patients in homes.

Red Cross Links

• Pre-1917 – Timaru St John (with its Nursing Division and local citizens) credited with organising the first Red Cross effort in New Zealand.

• 1917 – Official NZ branch of the British Red Cross established by the Governor-General, the Earl of Liverpool.

Individuals of Service

• 1939–1940s – A. J. (Joe) Meikle becomes Timaru’s first full-time ambulance driver. For several years he is on call 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

• Jan 1–4, 1947 – Meikle and volunteer Harry Darling respond to a major climbing disaster in the Dobson Valley, where a snow slide injures a university tramping party. Ambulance patients are transported to Timaru Hospital after a days-long rescue.

• c.1940–1970s – Meikle serves nearly 40 years as driver, officer, lecturer, and mentor. Later elevated to Serving Brother in recognition of his contribution.

Women in Leadership

• 1955 – Sir Otto Lund, Commissioner-in-Chief of St John in the Commonwealth, visits Timaru. Photograph at Caroline Bay shows local women leaders front and centre: Miss I. E. Young (divisional nursing officer), Miss L. P. Butler (district nursing superintendent), Miss M. E. Marriott (divisional superintendent), Miss J. E. Hanan (district nursing officer), Mrs R. E. White (Mayoress of Timaru), and Mrs A. Shorland.

Modern Developments

• 1974 – St John Ambulance Association and Brigade amalgamate to form the St John Ambulance Foundation.

• 2021 – New St John building opens at Wai-iti Road, Timaru. Purpose-built with space for eight ambulances, youth divisions, and training facilities. More than 500 attend the open day.

• 2025 – St John marks 140 years in New Zealand, with Timaru still central to its service and legacy.