Margaret with her brother, Jim and their father, Irwin Hunt
A Te Kūiti born and educated doctor who spent much of her working life in the King Country and who helped transform how New Zealand medical professionals care for babies, has died in Auckland.
Helen Margaret Irwin Liley (née Hunt) 1928 – 2025
Margaret Liley
Helen Margaret Irwin Liley (née Hunt and known as Margaret) forged a remarkable legacy in medicine, said her eldest child, Bill Liley.
She was a farmer’s daughter born south of Te Kūiti who attended Te Kūiti Primary School before heading north to board at Waikato Diocesan School in Hamilton and then Epsom Girls’ Grammar in Auckland.
She died at Ryman Logan Campbell Retirement Village in Auckland last week aged 97.
“She was an educator, a doctor and a farmer – but also a great mum,” said Bill.
She maintained a lifelong connection to the land because of those early years growing up on the family’s King Country farm.
“She used to ride her horse to Te Kūiti Primary School on occasions when she didn’t take the bus.”
In 1946 Margaret started a Bachelor of Science at Otago University majoring in physiology and three years later – in her first year at Medical School in Dunedin – she met and later married William Liley.
After graduating, Margaret returned to the King Country where she did her medical training as an intern at Taumarunui Hospital in 1952.
Both Margaret and William broke ground in paediatrics/perinatal medicine and care during their careers, often working alongside one another. He was knighted for his service to medicine in 1973.
Margaret during her Te Kūiti Primary School days
“They worked at the same locations – including National Women’s Hospital in Auckland – but it would be more accurate to describe their work as complementary rather than overlapping,” said Bill.
“While Dad was into medical research, Mum’s role with National Women’s had a research component, but was more focused on education. She set up a new antenatal programme, for antenatal education, and she also had a role in reviewing the overall structure of the delivery suite process.”
While working as an antenatal physician and as an assistant to the director of Plunket, Margaret focused on the medical benefits of parents bonding with newborns.
She drew on her own experiences as a new mum to Bill in the 1950s while living in Canberra.
The practice (known as rooming-in) encouraged mothers to spend more time with their babies.
“Prior to that, there’d been an inclination to separate mothers and babies for various reasons, whereas Mum really strove to bring them together immediately after birth.”
Her 1966 book, Modern Motherhood: Pregnancy, Childbirth and the Newborn Baby, was focused on this approach. It provided a comprehensive guide for parents about pregnancy, childbirth and caring for babies.
While living primarily in Auckland, Margaret’s family ties kept her connected to the King Country. The family visited the region regularly, spending holidays at the family farm.
In 1974, the couple purchased a farm in Retaruke, south of Taumarunui. By this stage, Margaret’s work had been influenced by her experiences as a mum of five children. Margaret and William then completed their family by adopting Stephanie who was born with Down Syndrome.
Margaret moved permanently from Auckland to Taumarunui in 1985, two years after William’s death, and she managed the 900-hectare farm and forest.
“She went to Taumarunui to be a farmer, but she then answered a call for help. A GP there, Ernie Brewer, had died and she was asked to take over his practice,” Bill said.
“She owned the practice along with other doctors. As the story goes, when the others would take time off to go golfing, Mum headed straight back to the farm to shift cattle.”
Margaret’s income as a doctor helped sustain the farm.
Margaret Liley in later life
After 17 years as a Taumarunui GP she retired from medicine in 2004 but continued to work on the land until just a few years ago.
“She stopped farming when she was about 91 and moved into Taumarunui for a little while before we brought her up to Auckland,” Bill said.
“But Mum never forgot her King Country connections and the work she did in the community endured.”
Margaret was also GP for Good Local Media senior writer Mary Anne Gill who was King Country correspondent based in Taumarunui for The Daily News from 1986 to 1994.
“She was an amazing woman. So interesting, she would talk about the farm, her adopted daughter, her background. I’d sit there thinking ‘gosh what a great story this would make,’ but I never got to do an in-depth article about her, sadly,” Gill said.
“That kind of time and care wouldn’t be possible now – GPs are limited in how long they can spend with each patient.”
She described Margaret as a kind and empathetic person – and recalled one occasion when she had to ring several patients up to tell them their medical records had been stolen in a burglary at her rooms.
Mother to Bill, Helen, Ben, Janet, Rosalind and Stephanie, Margaret was also a grandmother to 14 and a great-grandmother of seven.
A service to honour her life was held on Saturday at Auckland University’s Maclaurin Chapel – named in memory of a family member of Margaret’s mother Helen.
Margaret with her brother, Jim and their father, Irwin Hunt
