NZ Folk Song * The Railwayman's Daughter

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In November 1918, an influenza pandemic struck Ohakune and killed 26 people.
Dozens more were saved by the heroic work of 18-year-old Nurse Ruth Drummond.

    G Down Rangataua Road walks the C Railwayman's G Daughter
      “Jane’s doll has a fever and I must at-D-tend
    I’ll C take her mud soup and a G dandelion bouquet
    And in no time at all it will D be on the G mend.”

    And the C Railwayman's Daughter is G walking, is walking
    Down D Rangataua Road to ease G sickness and pain
    Our C tough walking angel of G mercy goes nursing,
    And she will not rest ‘til they're D all well a-G-gain

    2.
    On the night train to Auckland goes the railwayman's daughter
    for hospital training, so a nurse she can be
    "And then when I'm older, I'll head to Otago
    Take medical studies, become a GP”

   Come, G come, D come Nurse G Drummond
C Come, G come, to the D sick you are G summoned

And the Railwayman's Daughter goes walking, goes walking
Through hospital wards to ease sickness and pain
Our tough walking angel of mercy goes nursing
And she will not rest ‘til they’re all well again

3.
In the railwayman's house lies the Railwayman's Daughter
She's been nursing soldiers hurt by the Great War
Her body's exhausted, and she's convalescing
She must rest quietly 'til she's well once more.

4.
But a railwayman’s sickly, he's caught influenza

Now fifty have fever, seven are dead

The trains have stopped running,

there’s no crew to man them,

So the Railwayman's Daughter is called from her bed.

Come, come, come Nurse Drummond

Come, come, to the sick you are summoned

And the Railwayman's Daughter goes walking, goes walking
Down Rangataua Road to ease sickness and pain

Our tough walking angel of mercy goes nursing
And she will not rest ‘til they’re all well again

5.
Now the fevers have passed, all the trains up and running
On the Rangataua Straight, hear that wild whistle shrill

It’s the driver saluting the Railwayman's Daughter
Lying cold in her grave up on Rangataua Hill

Come, come, come Nurse Drummond

Come, come, to heaven you’re summoned
Hail, hail, hail, Nurse Drummond
Hail, hail, to glory you’re summoned

And the Railwayman's Daughter is walking, still walking
Down Rangataua Road to ease sickness and pain
Our tough walking angel of mercy goes nursing
You’ll not see the likes of Nurse Drummond again.

Nurse Ruth Drummond

(Auckland Star, Dec 1918)

The influenza epidemic of 1918 exacted a heavy toll at Ohakune, with a large proportion of the railway staff on the sick list. Nurse Ruth Drummond, only daughter of the Railways Bridge Inspector based at Rangataua, was at home after becoming run down while in her second year of training at Auckland Hospital. She had not properly regained her strength when she was asked to assist fighting the epidemic. She was to become a veritable Florence Nightingale to the many Railway employees whom she nursed back to health.

Working long hours with little food, Nurse Drummond finally collapsed, and died on November 15th, being buried at Rangataua two days later. Her death was mourned by the whole community, and the presence of white-faced semi-convalescents at her graveside brought a tragic poignancy of the passing of a warm young life.

The 1918 Influenza Pandemic

The first wave of this pandemic, with higher infection rates among young adults, was in Haskell County, Kansas, in January 1918. It spread to a nearby WW1 army camp, and from there to army camps all over the US, and then to military transit camps in France. In July a highly infectious variant with sudden onset, pneumonic complications and a high death rate arose among the French and British troops on the Western Front, and as soldiers were invalided home, it gradually spread all over the world.

The first variant spread through some NZ cities in August and the second arrived in Auckland in mid-October. Most long-distance travel in NZ was by coal-fired steam trains, and Ohakune, a half-way changeover stop between Auckland and Wellington, was the home of dozens of railway drivers, firemen, guards, shunters, station masters, workshop staff, line maintenance crew and refreshment staff. Guards and refreshment staff were the first in Ohakune to become infected, and by the beginning of November it had spread all through Ohakune. Three-quarters of Ohakune's 1,370 population went down with it and 26 died.

6th November 1918

600 of Ohakune's 1300 infected