Doris Booth

Doris Regina Booth OBE (1 October 1895 – 4 November 1970) was an Australian nurse and goldminer. She was the first female member of the Legislative Council of Papua and New Guinea

Biography[]

Booth was born to Henry Wilde and Minna Gerler in South Brisbane in 1895.^[1] Following her school education she started work at Brisbane General Hospital as a trainee nurse.^[1] She left her job after marrying Charles Booth on 14 May 1919.^[1] The couple lived in Mitchell for a year, after which they moved to the Territory of New Guinea when her husband was appointed manager of a plantation near Kokopo.^[1]

In 1924 Booth and her husband moved to Bulolo to prospect for gold. After securing a lease, Booth ran it whilst her husband started prospecting at Edie Creek. She set up a bush hospital in September 1926 following a dysentery epidemic, running it until January 1927;^[1] this led to her being appointed an OBE in the 1929 Birthday Honours. Between 1927 and 1929 Booth returned to live in Australia to recover from Malaria, publishing a book about her experiences under the title Mountain Gold and Cannibals.^[2][1] She then went back to New Guinea and left her husband in 1932;^[1] the two divorced in 1934.^[2]

After a successful spell running a mine, Booth returned to Brisbane again in 1938 and worked for the Mothercraft Association.^[1] She subsequently returned to New Guinea and was appointed to the new Legislative Council of Papua and New Guinea in 1951, serving as its sole female member until 1957.^[1]

In 1960 Booth returned to Australia and worked as a volunteer for the Methodist Blue Nursing Service. She died at the St Andrews War Memorial Hospital in 1970.^[1]

References[]