Forthright and fearless trailblazer helped many
AT the age of 3 or 4, Anne Hall announced to her family that she was going to be a doctor when she grew up. It was certainly to be a very tough challenge. Although she attended Epsom Girls’ Grammar, the closest it came to science for girls was home science.
In her final year, Anne persuaded a teacher to give her some physics and zoology lessons but she missed out on medical intermediate at the University of Auckland. Not daunted, she took herself off to the University of Otago to repeat intermediate and gained admission to the fiercely competitive medical school.
She thrived in Dunedin, and not just in medicine.
‘‘We had a marvellous social life. Noone ever sat at home on a Saturday. There were dances and balls and parties. At the weekend you would take a whole bottle of brandy, 1.2 litres, which you would drink over the course of the evening along with ginger ale,’’ she once recounted.
‘‘I had a very good head for alcohol and could always remember what happened, but my partner would pass out! No mixed flatting and no sex of course because that was pre the pill. I was a terrible prude anyway but we certainly had great fun.’’
It was at Otago she also developed her great love of the mountains and was to do many climbs in the Southern Alps, the highlight being a winter ascent of Mt McKerrow which had been rarely attempted, along with Fred Hollows of eye surgery fame.
A very long day might involve crossing the Southern Alps from the west and ending up at the Hermitage at Mt Cook, a 23hour expedition, and no sleeping on the job. She could carry a 32kg pack and loved those big long ice axes.
‘‘I loved being in the mountains, it was wonderful looking out on the landscapes from on top of a peak. I wasn’t great technically but I was very fit and determined and that takes you a long way. Mind you I had a terrible fear of heights, but that wasn’t going to put me off climbing. I just kept saying to myself ‘don’t look down, Anne, don’t look down!’.’’
There were only a handful of woman mountaineers at that stage — but she commanded respect.
‘‘Of course mountaineering was very sexist in those days but so was society. I used to do the cooking in the huts but I didn’t mind because I was a good cook whereas the men were awful cooks and you wouldn’t want to eat their food!’’
After graduating she returned to Auckland where she eventually gained a highly competitive position as medical registrar at Auckland Hospital, the first woman to do so. Her incredible work ethic was doubtless one of the reasons why.
In 1958 she married fellow doctor John Hall and they went on to have four children: Trish (who died of leukaemia at age 24), Martin, Margot and Kate. Anne loved her family life but was determined to keep her career going, so home help was always needed.
‘‘In those days you followed your husband and John was keen to study psychiatry in London so off we went with two kids,’’ she said.
She was also determined to study psychiatry and would eventually graduate with the same qualifications as John, while juggling challenging family responsibilities.
Returning to Wellington,
Anne became a consultant psychiatrist in private practice, and the head of the mental health unit at Wellington Hospital. She was head of the postgraduate training programme and an associate professor at the medical school.
She specialised in treating eating disorders, convinced that the mind and body were inextricably linked and believing that if you could alleviate the physical effects of starvation that would be of great benefit in enabling more rational thinking, hence dealing with the disorder holistically. She became a leading authority on anorexia and attained an international reputation for the quality of her work.
‘‘If you had a patient with eating disorders, you always tried to get them in to see Anne Hall who had a great team working with her, and this was at a time when women medical specialists were rare,’’ retired Wellington GP Dr Carol Shand said.
‘‘She was always curious about people and their personal dynamics and remained interested in those encountered to the last. She was warm, thoughtful, empathetic, at times acerbic and other times funny when interacting with her friends,’’ former colleague Prof Sarah Romans recalled.
In a typically modest assessment of her achievements, Anne once said, ‘‘Yes, we certainly helped many people to overcome their disorders but others we didn’t, and that is the nature of it I’m afraid.’’
She and John parted company amicably and in the early 1990s she decided to migrate to the West Coast and take up a position as psychiatrist at the Seaview Psychiatric Hospital in Hokitika, where she worked till she was 72.
ON a personal level she wanted to indulge her love of nature and to build her own house at Okarito, which was enjoying a renaissance and she loved being part of it. There were the creatives such as writer Kerry Hulme and New Zealand’s leading landscape photographer Andris Apse and his wife Lynne, as well as very committed communityminded people like forester Ian James who started Okarito Tours and his wife Debbie.
There were Shakespeare reading groups (which Anne took great delight in dressing up for), and music groups from throughout New Zealand loved to play at Donovan’s Store in Okarito. The Okarito Community Association was very active, converting the old Okarito School into a backpackers and adding a campground which they ran as well.
Anne was not a woman to be trifled with and was determined to maintain certain standards. Ian James vividly recalls what might be termed the Clochmerle Incident. The community association had decided to install a men’s urinal in the toilet block and Ian was in charge of the project.
Later, Anne came storming into his house, demanding to know what he was doing allowing such a monstrosity to be installed. Now, he could have asked what she was doing in the men’s toilets in the first place but didn’t dare.
‘‘It was most unusual for Anne to be so outraged and I must confess I had just left the plumber to get on with the job.’’
He went down there and agreed she had a point. The urinal was like a large trough where four men could stand shoulder to shoulder and it was rather ugly although a standard installation. It was pulled out and a neighbour subsequently grew some great strawberries in it.
Anne was also a commanding figure on the West Coast Conservation Board, where her razorsharp mind, coupled with her mountain experiences, made her a formidable figure.
Former chairman Hamish Macbeth recalls her contribution.
‘‘As the board got to know her she became the elder statesperson; much respected and revered but also much loved.
‘‘She never attended a meeting without being well prepared. The board completed the conservation management strategy during her time and Anne was a significant contributor to the board’s final input.
‘‘She also had a great store of red wine and was very generous with it!’’
Anne left Okarito in 2014 when she could no longer drive, and she immersed herself in the cultural bow wave of Wellington where she loved attending concerts and functions. She eventually went into resthome Te Hopai and continued her lifelong love of reading three or four books a week.
Anne was a forthright and fearless character who took life’s challenges in her stride but beneath the occasionally stern exterior was a woman who was very kindly and compassionate and loved to laugh.
She was a staunch friend to so many people and was always in their corner. She adored her children, eight grandchildren and four greatgrandchildren.
As that great woman mountaineer Jill Tremain, who died in a Himalayan avalanche once said: ‘‘Life is a cup to be filled, not a measure to be drained.’’ That fits Anne Hall perfectly.
Anne died on March 8. She was 92. — Contributed by Harry Broad
❛ She was always curious about people and their personal dynamics and remained interested in those encountered to the last. She was warm, thoughtful, empathetic, at times acerbic and other times funny when interacting with her friends