Ettie Rout- The Voluntary Sisterhood

Kim Hill speaks with author Jane Tolerton who is in the process of writing a book about Ettie Rout. Ettie Rout was involved in setting up an organisation in 1915 called The Voluntary Sisterhood which defied the government and went off to the WWI front, despite the government's
feeling that the women were not competent to look after the New Zealand troops.
Jane Tolerton talks about her campaign for safe sex to prevent the spread of venereal disease amongst soldiers.
Women in New Zealand were opposed to Rout's campaign and it was forbidden to mention her in the New Zealand press during the war.
She only ever returned to New Zealand briefly in 1936 before dying in Rarotonga.