Miriam Dorothy Durlacher, more commonly known as Doris Durlacher, was a nurse and midwife in Toodyay, Western Australia.
Background
Durlacher was born on 14 March 1870 at White Peak Station near Geraldton, to Deborah Wilberforce Durlacher (the daughter of Michael Clarkson). During the first decade of the 20th century, Durlacher returned with her mother to Newcastle, where she worked as a nurse
Education
After Durlacher"s birth, the family moved to Toodyay to stay with relatives, before moving to Fremantle, where she attended school.
Career
Doris"s father, Alfred Durlacher, had committed suicide four months earlier. After some years living in Fremantle the family moved to Perth where, after finishing her education, Durlacher opened a school for young children in Adelaide Terrace. She is listed as Nurse Durlacher for the first time in the 1908 Newcastle Post Office directory.
In 1905 Nurse Despard, who had trained in Melbourne, opened a maternity hospital in Newcastle in Leeder"s House in Stirling Terrace.
A maternity hospital was unusual for those times. The practice was for home births assisted by a midwife.
The passing of the Health Acting in 1911 required midwives to be registered. By 1913, Durlacher was one of a number of women to appear on the first Register of Midwives in Western Australia.
In January 1925, Durlacher resigned from the hospital to take up private nursing
During her career, Durlacher delivered 190 babies, and only lost one. She was held in high esteem for her commitment to her profession and her compassion for those she helped. Following her death in May 1942, the following appraisal was published in the Western Mail:
Her experiences in outback homes were amusing, pathetic, hard, and demanded great resourcefulness.
Sometimes there was no bed for her and she just slept anywhere she could.
She was a real guardian angel in their homes, and she often took such cases at very small remuneration. Around 1930 Durlacher retired and started enjoying a sociable life with her friends playing bridge and going to the cinema.
She also had a keen interest in the Girls" Friendly Society, a philanthropic body originally established in England to assist working class women and girls with out-of-wedlock pregnancies. Durlacher died on 10 May 1942 in Perth, after a long illness.
Membership
She became an active member of the Karrakatta Club serving for some years on the executive committee.