There is sufficient space to park off the road: check carefully when re-entering.
Nurse Quartermaine started Brockhurst Private maternity Hospital with Dr Frederick House before moving her maternity hospital to “Strathfield” on the outskirts of Katanning.
She provided these services to the women of Katanning and districts while raising her own family of nine children and helping her husband Frederick Quartermaine, son of Katanning’s first settler Elijah Quartermaine, with the family farm. One of the most respected women of her time in Katanning the Great Southern Herald ran the following orbituary…
DEATH OF A PIONEER - NURSE F. A. QUARTERMAINE. Great Southern Herald, 28 September 1933
One of the links with Katanning’s early days was severed last Thursday with the death of Mrs. F. A. (Nurse) Quartermaine, relict of the late Fred Quartermaine, who passed away peacefully at the home of her son-in-law, Mr. Arthur Gilbert, Adam Street, at the advanced age of 78 years.
If any pioneer woman of the Katanning district was held high in the esteem and affection of the people, particularly those associated with Katanning’s early days, it was Nurse Quartermaine. It was not only the fact that in her capacity as a maternity nurse she helped to bring into the world some two thousand babies, but that she put into practice the highest ideals associated with her profession and on numerous occasions administered her devoted care to needful mothers without any hope of reward or remuneration.
The eldest daughter of the late William Andrews, she was born at Pingelly on November 3, 1860. As a baby she moved to the Blackwood River with her parents, who afterwards made their home at Lake Norring, where she spent her girlhood and youth. Later, Mr. Andrews bought the property known as Moojepin Farm from Mr. Monger, of York (now held by Mr. H. L. Wanke), and while still at Norring she married Frederick, son of the late Eli Quartermaine, of “Yowangup,” and made her home at Marracoonda on the farm now occupied by Mr. D. G. Quartermaine.
Even prior to her marriage she displayed tendencies towards nursing and lent a helping hand to mothers of the district who were approaching confinement on their forms, and even during her life at Marracoonda, when rearing a family of nine children, she never failed to give assistance to wives of her fellow settlers whenever possible, even at her own personal sacrifice.
In 1905 her husband suffered a setback in health and, after selling the property, they moved to Albany. Returning to Katanning in 1908, she launched out in the profession of maternity nursing, first at her own home, subsequently at “Brockhurst” in Beaufort street, and finally at “Pinwernying.”
On August 31, 1928, after twenty years’ service to the community, she relinquished full time nursing, the occasion being marked by a public gathering, when on behalf of the town and district Dr. House, her old friend and associate, presented her with several valuable gifts as a mark of the affection and esteem in which she was held by all sections of the community.
She continued nursing in a private capacity until about six years ago, when ill-health compelled her to retire. She lived with her daughter and son-in-law, Mrs. and Mr. A. L. Gilbert, and retained all her faculties to the end, her only handicap being partial paralysis following a stroke since her retirement. Her active and fruitful life drew suddenly to a close on Thursday evening, with no previous intimation to those about her that the end was at hand.
Ref: Lost Katanning - Home Lost Katanning Great Southern Western Australia
With gratitude to Arthur Todd for encouragement, help and support. Lost Katanning, Old Railway Station, 67 Austral Terrace, Katanning
Â