Island Nurses

Leonie Howie and Adele Robertson live and work on remote Great Barrier Island—so called because it faces the full brunt of the wild Pacific weather and acts as a barrier for the mainland about 100 kilometers away. With a population of about 1000, no reticulated electricity, no ATM, no street lights, and one pub, this is a wildly beautiful place. It has a long history of farming, whaling, and fishing, and the people who live here are a resilient lot, proud of their community. Midwifery and nursing on a remote island bring a wide range of dramas and emergencies, and here Adele and Leonie share the islanders' stories—sometimes tragic, sometimes happy, sometimes funny—from more than 30 years of challenging yet uplifting work.