This biography was based on secondary sources and compiled by Rennae Taylor.
Contents
1960 graduate
Noeline Lillian Beatrice Carrington was born in Dunedin to Lillian Mabel (nee Martin) and Arthur ‘Harold’ Carrington on 28 October 1926. (1) Little is known about her parents. Her father was a gunner in the fifth field artillery during World War 1 and was from the Otago area at that time. (2) She grew up in Dunedin, attended Otago Girls High School where she excelled in her studies. (3) and had an older sister Hilary Joyce born in 1920. (1)
Noleen commenced her university studies circa 1943 at the age of 17 years. Her desire was to study medicine but had been told this was not a suitable career for a young woman, so she did one year in the home science degree program at Otago University before switching to medicine the following year.
She met an older medical student, Norman Walker, at university and they married halfway through her own training, in 1946. (4) After completing her first professional examinations, she put her own studies on hold as their first child was born (5) and they decided to concentrate on their family. Norman was further along in his medical training and graduated in the class of 1947. They moved to Lyttleton in 1948 where he had purchased a medical practice and Noeline became a busy wife and mother as Norman was only one of three GPs for many years in this busy port town on the Banks Peninsula. They had three children, Heather, Steven and David. In 1955, the family lived in London where Norman obtained his Child Health Diploma. (6)
Sometime after their return from the UK, when all the children were at school, the family moved to Dunedin where Noeline recommenced her medical training and graduated in the class of 1960, at the age of 34 years. Norman said, “she had no qualms about standing up and challenging ideas….it was rare for a student to be allowed to take a break from medical school.” She did her house surgeon years in Dunedin and then in Christchurch when Norman returned to his Lyttleton practice. While in Dunedin he had lectured at the medical school. (3)
While doing her house surgeon training, Noeline became passionate with the workings of the human mind and determined to someday receive further training in the field of psychiatry. (3) After completing her house surgeon years, she joined Norman at the Lyttleton medical practice but the work of a GP was never her first love. Around 1969, they moved to England where Noeline studied at the Maudsley Hospital, a psychiatric hospital in South London and Norman worked as a medical locum and then as a port health doctor at Heathrow Airport. (3, 5) Noeline became one of the first NZ born and trained doctors to be trained in London in this field (3) and was successful in qualifying with her Diploma of Psychological Medicine, UK at age 45 years. (6)
On their return to Lyttleton, Noeline commenced working at Sunnyside Hospital as a psychiatrist where she ran the adolescent unit and later worked at Student Health Services before retiring in 1991. She also helped train Christchurch Anglican clergy to help people with mental disorders. (3)
Throughout their years in Lyttleton, Noeline was active in a variety of groups and was involved in advocacy in health issues particularly concerning families, much of it in a voluntary capacity. Her husband said she was not the sort to be “upfront” but preferred to work behind the scenes. (3) She became, along with her husband, a foundation member of the Parents Centre in 1952. She also became a national president and a medical adviser for 20 years and later was made a life member. She and Norman were able to take part in the 50th anniversary of the organisation in 2002. (5) She served as President of the NZ Medical Women’s Association during the era when women were still a “small and embattled minority in the medical profession,” and was the Canterbury medical representative on the National Council of Women. (3) Noeline served on the committee of the NZ Broadcasting Corporation and was a member of the Association of University Women and Zonta. She was a strong advocate for Family Planning and Family Life and Education. She worked on the initiatives to allow fathers to attend the births of their children and improved access of parents to their sick children in hospital wards. (3)
Noeline and her husband enjoyed travelling, including overseas work-related conferences. She was a lover of the outdoors including tramping, skiing and climbing, an avid reader and a lover of music. (3) She and Norman belonged to a private choir for many years. (6)
On 21 March 2007 she died at the age of 80 after forty years of coping with a blood disorder which regularly required blood transfusions but which, according to her husband, never stopped her doing what she wanted to. (3) Norman died two years later. At the time of his death, they had three children, Heather Macleod, Stephen Walker and David Walker; five grandchildren, including a granddaughter who was a GP; and two great grandchildren. (6)
References
- Births, Deaths & Marriages [06.05.2025]. Available from: https://www.bdmhistoricalrecords.dia.govt.nz/Search/
- Auckland War Memorial Online Cenotaph. Available from: https://media.api.aucklandmuseum.com/id/media/v/321080?rendering=original.jpg
- Crean M. “Obituaries: Ground Breaker in Medicine.” The Press. 2007 14.04.2007:1.
- The Wilson Collection [06.05.2025]. Available from: https://wilsoncollection.co.nz/
- Walker N. Tales of a Port Doctor. Christchurch: N. Walker; 2006.
- Macleod H. Norman Derek Walker. New Zealand Medical Journal 2009;122(1296).
- Supplement to the NZ Medical Gazette [Internet]. Wellington1975 [cited 06.05.2025]. Available from: https://www.nzlii.org/nz/other/nz_gazette/1975/102.pdf
