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| This photo of Herries' Private Hospital was taken sometime before 1927. The two boys on bicycles are sons of Janet and Robert Herries (at left is Jim and at right is Gib). Photo: Cairns Historical Society. |
Janet was born in Glasgow, Scotland in 1869, to parents Elizabeth Drew Lang and John Mackie. In August 1900, at the age of 30, she emigrated to Australia, arriving in Rockhampton aboard the Duke of Norfolk. In 1902 she married Robert Herries (a fellow Scotsman) in Mossman and by about 1915 they were living in Bunda Street, in Cairns, with their four sons: Robert John Mackie Herries, b. 1904; Charles Albert Herries, b. 1906; James McLeod Herries, b. abt. 1911; Gilbert Lang Herries, b. 1913.
Here's a link to a photo of Janet & her sons on Flickr:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/cairnsregionalcouncil/5490282829/
Until the move to Cairns, Robert Herries had worked in many of the sugar mills in north Queensland, from Mackay to Mossman. In Cairns he worked as a waterside worker, while Janet's profession was only ever listed on electoral rolls as "home duties". This was despite her long career as a nurse - Janet worked up until the age of 70.
Herries' Hospital was for many years a household name in Cairns. The hospital could accommodate up to ten patients at a time and women travelled from regional towns throughout far north Queensland to have their babies at Herries' Hospital, such was its reputation.
As well as being an experienced and caring nurse and midwife, Janet also appears to have been a tenacious businesswoman. She doesn't appear to have been frightened to stand up for herself. In 1920, Janet sued a Mt Garnet man named Frederick Christensen for his daughter's debt.* Clara Christensen had a baby at Nurse Herries' hospital but the bill went unpaid. Christensen claimed that Clara was not his daughter, and that he had only "lived with her mother".
In court, Nurse Herries was asked why she was not pursuing the father of Clara's child for the confinement fees, rather than pursuing Mr Christensen. She said that Clara had not told her who the father of the baby was, and that Mr Christensen had agreed to pay the fees when he visited Clara at Herries Hospital. Nurse Herries even had to justify why she had taken Clara in to her care in the first place, if she could not be sure of the father of the child? Janet told the court that when the girl came to her place she was in such a state that she could not refuse her admission.
Note to readers: new information on Clara and Mr Christensen has been submitted via the comments section below, so please do read those comments, which do build a wider picture of the situation than I had first presented here, back in 2015. - Trisha Fielding, 30 Aug. 2026.
The building itself is reputed to have been moved from Cooktown to Cairns in 1920. It was once a retail shop, occupying a corner position on Charlotte and Walker Streets, Cooktown. Janet originally leased the premises at 180 McLeod Street but in 1924, she bought the house. It suffered extensive damage during a cyclone in 1927, when its roof was blown across street and into the cemetery. The house remained in the Herries family until 1996 and recently, the house, which had become very run-down, was magnificently restored by new owners.
* Cairns Post, 6 May, 1920, p. 2. "Nursing Expenses. Small Debts Action."
Other sources for this article include Ancestry.com; Trove; Qld Heritage Register.
Hi lovely readers, I'm no longer collating information on midwives, as I published my book about this topic - Neither Mischievous nor Meddlesome - in 2019. Thank you so very much to everyone who contacted me with information, both during the research and writing phase, and since publication. I'm so grateful for the help. - January 2025
The building itself is reputed to have been moved from Cooktown to Cairns in 1920. It was once a retail shop, occupying a corner position on Charlotte and Walker Streets, Cooktown. Janet originally leased the premises at 180 McLeod Street but in 1924, she bought the house. It suffered extensive damage during a cyclone in 1927, when its roof was blown across street and into the cemetery. The house remained in the Herries family until 1996 and recently, the house, which had become very run-down, was magnificently restored by new owners.
* Cairns Post, 6 May, 1920, p. 2. "Nursing Expenses. Small Debts Action."
Other sources for this article include Ancestry.com; Trove; Qld Heritage Register.
Hi lovely readers, I'm no longer collating information on midwives, as I published my book about this topic - Neither Mischievous nor Meddlesome - in 2019. Thank you so very much to everyone who contacted me with information, both during the research and writing phase, and since publication. I'm so grateful for the help. - January 2025
Is there public access to Herries house? Thanks. Jane
ReplyDeleteHi Jane, I think it's now a private home, so no public access that I know of. Regards, Trisha
DeleteHello Frederick Christensen was my great grandfather and he did not have a daughter called Clara . Clara was believed to be a girl who he helped as he knew her mother. He was not involved with Claras mother. Clara came from Charters Towers where my great grandfather was working. My great grandfather later married Marian Violet Young and had 2 children Frederick Christensen ( Jock ) and Bernice Christensen. He had butchershops in Cairns and later bought Kings Plains Station Cooktown in 1931 which was sold by my father in 1985.
DeleteI have followed up on the story of Clara with my father who is still alive . Clara was believed to be sexually assaulted in Charters Towers and her mother sent her to stay with my great Grandfather who has horses and cattle at Bullock Creek in Mount Garnet . She developed complications with the pregnancy and my great grandfather brought her to Cairns for urgent attention . My great grandfather would not have had the money to pay for her medical fees but had the decency to safely house and seek help for a woman in need. I guess we look at and interpret history through the eyes of modern society where health care is a universal right - perhaps we need to look through the lens of human compassion and decency . I would say both Nurse Herries and my great grandfather tried their best to help a young woman who might have died in child birth or whose child might have died.
DeleteHi, thank you for your comments, and I appreciate you sharing your information and research here. I'm going to edit the post with a note that draws any reader's attention to your comments, so they can also view this new information. Again, thank you for taking the time to share this side of the story.
ReplyDelete