Doris Durlacher

Miriam Dorothy Durlacher, more commonly known as Doris Durlacher, (18701942) was a nurse and midwife in Toodyay, Western Australia.

Early life

Durlacher was born on 14 March 1870 at White Peak Station near Geraldton, to Deborah Wilberforce Durlacher (the daughter of Michael Clarkson). Doris's father, Alfred Durlacher, had committed suicide four months earlier. The passing of the Health Act 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.

Later life Around 1930 Durlacher retired. She was also a needlewoman; making no less than 57 cloths of various kinds. 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.