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Dunedin Public Libraries and the Dunedin Lebanese Community Present:
HE PURAPURA MARARA SCATTERED SEEDS
HE PURAPURA MARARA SCATTERED SEEDS
Dr Emily Seiderberg-McKinnon
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DescriptionEmily Hancock Siedeberg-McKinnon, CBE MB ChB BSc (17 February 1873 – 13 June 1968) was a New Zealand medical practitioner and hospital superintendent. She was also the country's first female medical graduate.
Emily was born in 1873 in Clyde, Otago. She was the third child of Irish Quaker Anna Thompson and Franz David Siedeberg, a German Jewish architect who had emigrated to New Zealand in 1861 and taken up gold mining. When Emily was three the family settled in Dunedin, her father becoming a successful building contractor. Emily was educated at the Normal School and at Otago Girls' High School, where she held a board scholarship. From an early age she accepted her father's dictum that she should train as a doctor.
Encouraged by her father, she studied medicine and graduated from the University of Otago Medical School in 1896. She did her post-graduate studies at the Rotunda Hospital, Dublin, and in Berlin. After postgraduate training and work experience overseas, she eventually registered as a medical practitioner and set up a private practice in Dunedin. She was appointed Medical Superintendent at St. Helen's Hospital, Dunedin, and served from 1905–1938.
Dr. Siedeberg was active in community and welfare work. A founding member of the Dunedin branch of the New Zealand Society for the Protection of Women and Children in 1899, she was president of the Dunedin branch from 1933 to 1948 and became honorary life president in 1949.
Emily was a foundation member of the:
Otago University Women's Association
New Zealand Federation of University Women
The Townswomen's Guild
Delegate to the first Pan-Pacific Women's Conference
National Council of Women of New Zealand (Dunedin branch) (1918)
New Zealand Medical Women's Association founder (1921) and first president
Otago Pioneer Women's Memorial Association
Emily married James Alexander McKinnon (died 1949) in Los Angeles on 8 October 1928 and would be known as E.H. Siedeberg McKinnon and Emily H. Siedeberg-McKinnon. They had no children.
Emily was widowed in 1949 and died in the Presbyterian Social Service Association home at Oamaru, on 13 June 1968, aged 95.
Emily was awarded a life membership of the New Zealand Branch of the British Medical Association (1929) and of the New Zealand Registered Nurses' Association (1939), a King George V Silver Jubilee Medal (1935) and a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 1949 New Year Honours.
Emily was born in 1873 in Clyde, Otago. She was the third child of Irish Quaker Anna Thompson and Franz David Siedeberg, a German Jewish architect who had emigrated to New Zealand in 1861 and taken up gold mining. When Emily was three the family settled in Dunedin, her father becoming a successful building contractor. Emily was educated at the Normal School and at Otago Girls' High School, where she held a board scholarship. From an early age she accepted her father's dictum that she should train as a doctor.
Encouraged by her father, she studied medicine and graduated from the University of Otago Medical School in 1896. She did her post-graduate studies at the Rotunda Hospital, Dublin, and in Berlin. After postgraduate training and work experience overseas, she eventually registered as a medical practitioner and set up a private practice in Dunedin. She was appointed Medical Superintendent at St. Helen's Hospital, Dunedin, and served from 1905–1938.
Dr. Siedeberg was active in community and welfare work. A founding member of the Dunedin branch of the New Zealand Society for the Protection of Women and Children in 1899, she was president of the Dunedin branch from 1933 to 1948 and became honorary life president in 1949.
Emily was a foundation member of the:
Otago University Women's Association
New Zealand Federation of University Women
The Townswomen's Guild
Delegate to the first Pan-Pacific Women's Conference
National Council of Women of New Zealand (Dunedin branch) (1918)
New Zealand Medical Women's Association founder (1921) and first president
Otago Pioneer Women's Memorial Association
Emily married James Alexander McKinnon (died 1949) in Los Angeles on 8 October 1928 and would be known as E.H. Siedeberg McKinnon and Emily H. Siedeberg-McKinnon. They had no children.
Emily was widowed in 1949 and died in the Presbyterian Social Service Association home at Oamaru, on 13 June 1968, aged 95.
Emily was awarded a life membership of the New Zealand Branch of the British Medical Association (1929) and of the New Zealand Registered Nurses' Association (1939), a King George V Silver Jubilee Medal (1935) and a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 1949 New Year Honours.
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SubjectPioneer WomenManuscriptOtago Pioneer Women's Memorial (book)GroupsOtago Pioneer Women's Memorial Association
ManuscriptOtago Pioneer Women's Memorial (book)GroupsOtago Pioneer Women's Memorial Associationloading google map....
Dunedin Public Libraries (25th Jul 2017). Dr Emily Seiderberg-McKinnon. In Website Dunedin Public Libraries. Retrieved 21st Mar 2026 06:13, from https://dunedin.recollect.co.nz/nodes/view/201246