Dr Catherine Hamlin AC
FRCS, FRANZCOG, FRCOG
(24 January 1924 - 18 March 2020)

Gynaecologist
(and a remarkable Australian Humanitarian)

(Source: Canberra Times)

“When I die, this place will go on for many, many years until we have eradicated fistula altogether – until every woman in Ethiopia is assured of a safe delivery and a live baby.”
  
Dr Catherine Hamlin

Introduction

Elinor Catherine Hamlin, AC, FRCS, FRANZCOG, FRCOG (née Nicholson; 24 January 1924 – 18 March 2020) was an Australian obstetrician and gynaecologist who, with her husband, New Zealander Reginald Hamlin, co-founded the Addis Ababa Fistula Hospital, the world's only medical centre dedicated exclusively to providing free obstetric fistula repair surgery to poor women with childbirth injuries. They also co-founded an associated non-profit organisation, Hamlin Fistula Ethiopia.

Hamlin was recognised by the United Nations agency UNFPA as a pioneer in fistula surgery for her development of techniques and procedures for obstetric fistula treatment. The Hamlins, together with the hospital staff, have treated more than 60,000 women to date for obstetric fistula.

In 2020 Catherine celebrated her 61st year in Ethiopia. She lived most of her life there, in her original house on the grounds of her Addis Ababa Fistula Hospital, adored by patients, staff and the Ethiopian people. She was often referred to as “Emaye” meaning Mother.

She died in Addis Ababa Ethiopia on 18 March 2020 aged 96.

Her husband was Dr. Reginald Henry James (1908–1993), a New Zealander.

Early Life

Catherine's parents were David Nicholson and Winifred Elinor Young. Elinor Catherine (known as Catherine) was born in Ryde at the Hermitage on 24 January 1924 the second child after Sheila.

Hamlin grew up in Ryde, in northern Sydney, the daughter of a successful businessman. There were six children in the family - three boys and three girls. She was the second-eldest. There were nursemaids to look after them when they were young, and gardeners to keep the grounds tidy. The family home, The Hermitage, wasn't especially grand though, she says.

Did You Know? The Hermitage This information was taken directly from City of Ryde heritage page. John Blaxland (son of the explorer and owner of Brush Farm House, Gregory Blaxland) purchased 5 acres of land in 1838. Blaxland built the house for his family and it was completed in 1841. John Blaxland was known as the hermit, within the family and so the house was named The Hermitage. The house is a rare survivor from the early settlement period of Ryde. The Hermitage's rear courtyard 1954 David Theodore Field Nicholson married Winifred Elinor Broughton Young on 24 November 1920 in Queensland. On 28 May 1923 they purchased The Hermitage at 2 Anzac Avenue, Denistone. This consisted of a house on a sizeable block of land of 2 acres 3 roods. Five of their six children were born in Ryde including Elinor Catherine (known as Catherine) on 24 January 1924. In her autobiography The hospital by the river: a story of hope, she recalls We lived in a large house in Ryde called the Hermitage. Built in 1842 by John Blaxland, son of the explorer Gregory Blaxland … When I was a child the house seemed huge, with endless rooms and a big attic in which we could crawl about and play with all the old junk that had accumulated over the years. There were eight bedrooms. The upstairs attic rooms were rather poky, but my father had gable windows put in and then we had a beautiful view all the way down to the Parramatta River. Downstairs, the rooms were wood-pannelled, and there were wide verandahs in the front and back of the house. The garden was my mother’s special interest and delight. It was beautiful, and, to me, the most perfect garden I have ever been in. Her book provides many more details of her life at The Hermitage, so too, a booklet called The Hermitage: memories of the 1930s. This was edited by Pauline Curby from the oral history of one of Catherine’s brothers, Peter Nicholson. At the age of 12, she, along with her elder sister Sheila were sent to Frensham, a girls’ boarding school in Mittagong. In her last year at school she decided she wanted to be a doctor. After she matriculated, she lived at home, at The Hermitage, and studied medicine at the University of Sydney. In 1946, at the age of 22, she graduated and worked as an intern first at St John’s Hospital, Auburn and later the St George Hospital, Kogarah. After two years she applied for a resident’s position at Crown Street Women’s Hospital in Surry Hills and had an interview with the medical superintendent Dr Reginald Hamlin. Reg and Catherine married in 1950 and had a son in 1952. In 1959 they travelled to Ethiopia, initially accepting a three year contract but would stay there their entire lives, opening the Addis Ababa Fistula Hospital in 1974. The Hermitage stayed in Nicholson ownership until April 1952 when it was transferred to the Commonwealth of Australia. The house and land eventually became the CSIRO Division of Wool Technology. The Hermitage was restored from 2009 - 2015.

Education

At the age of 12, she, along with her elder sister Sheila were sent to Frensham, a girls’ boarding school in Mittagong.

After she matriculated (finished school - called the Leaving Certificate), she lived at home, at The Hermitage, and studied medicine at the University of Sydney.

In 1946, at the age of 22, she graduated and worked as an intern first at St John’s Hospital, Auburn and later the St George Hospital, Kogarah.

After two years she applied for a resident’s position at Crown Street Women’s Hospital in Surry Hills, Sydney and had an interview with the medical superintendent Dr Reginald Hamlin. The pair fell in love, despite the age gap - he was 15 years older - and married when Catherine was 26.

Dr Catherine Hamlin aged about 25
(Source: SMH)

Titles/Qualifications
  
MB BS Sydney 1946
AM 1983
AC 1995
FRCS 1999
Hon FACS 2003
Hon FRCS Edinburgh 2005
Hon MD Sydney 2005
Hon DL Dundee 2006
FRANZCOG
FRCOG

Marriage

Marriage notice in newspaper (below) states that Dr Reg Hamlin is the only son of the late Mr & Mrs R.H.J. Hamlin of New Zealand. Dr Reg & Dr Catherine Hamlin were married at St Philip's Church, Church Hill, Sydney, 21 October 1950

Wedding Announcement from "The Sunday Herald"
(Source: Catherine Hamlin Fistula Foundation)

Wedding Day
(Source: 9 News)

Wedding Party
(Source: Hamlin Fistula NZ)

Opportunities & Experiences

After marrying and moving to Adelaide's Queen Victoria Hospital for some years, the two wanted to go and work in a developing nation, and one day an advert in British medical journal The Lancet caught their eye.

"It just read 'gynaecologist wanted in Ethiopia, Addis Ababa'," Dr Hamlin told the BBC in 2016. It was enough to pique their interest, and the couple applied.

"We felt we would like to do something to help people in the world, because we had had so many advantages," Dr Hamlin explained.

The advertisement placed by the Ethiopian government in The Lancet medical journal for an obstetrician and gynaecologist to establish a midwifery school at the Princess Tsehai Hospital in Addis Ababa, the hospital established by the Emperor Haile Selassie in honour of his daughter and grandchild who had died in childbirth in 1942.

Did You Know? Princess Tsehai Selassie of Ethiopia (1919-1942) How is this Princess connected to Catherine & Reg? Working in Great Ormond Street Hospital for Sick Children Born in Addis Ababa in Ethiopia, Princess Tsehai was the third daughter and fourth child of the Emperor Haile Selassie of Ethiopia. From age eight Tsehai attended schools in England and Switzerland and would travel with her royal relatives to France and Germany, learning French and German as she did so. However international events were soon to change Tsehai’s life. In 1935 the Italian dictator Benito Mussolini began moves to annex Ethiopia. At only 15, she gave an impassioned plea to the League of Nations on behalf of her besieged home nation, Ethiopia, as it was being invaded by Mussolini’s Fascist Italy. This garnered her international fame. She was determined to support her father and the Ethiopian people in any way she could. An irreverent woman, Tsahai continued to speak on peace and use her status positively. She gave a speech for the Women’s Peace Crusade, and she was the only woman to speak at the Conference on African Peoples, Democracy and World Peace in 1939, held in London. In response in August 1935 in response to the Italian threat, Tsehai sponsored the establishment of the Ethiopian Women’s Welfare Work Association, with the mission to expand health and welfare programs. Following the formation of the Ethiopian Red Cross in 1935, Tsehi worked with the organisation as a volunteer. In October 1935 the Italians invaded Ethiopia and her father Emperor Haile Selassie ordered his wife and children to leave for England. Her father would join Tsehai and the family in 1936 at what became their family home in Bath, where they would remain for the next five years. Tsehai served as an interpreter to her mother and father and also became a spokesperson for her country as they tried to garner international support against the Italian occupation. Aged 17 Tsehai decided she wanted to become a nurse to be "of use", at a time where no Ethiopian woman had ever trained as a nurse and no woman of royal blood had taken up a profession. The wife of the former British Minister to Ethiopia, arranged an interview for Tsehai with the Matron of London’s Great Ormond Street Hospital for Sick Children, where she began training as a resident student nurse in August 1936. She asked for no special favours or treatment working alongside the other student nurses for the required 56 hours a week and earning a year’s salary of £20. Tsehai graduated in 1939 as a State Registered Children’s Nurse, then received permission to continue her studies at London’s Guy’s Hospital, with the intention of becoming a State Registered General Trained Nurse. With the commencement of the Second World War Tsehai worked nursing civilians injured during the Blitz of 1940/41. To complete her general nursing training Tsahai transferred to Guy's Hospital and worked for two years, but before completing her placement the Selassie family would return to Ethiopia. Later in 1941 Italian forces were defeated and driven out of Ethiopia by a combination of British, Commonwealth and Ethiopian forces. The Emperor and his family returned to Ethiopia and Tsehai went to work at Dessie Hospital. Not long after this, on August 17th 1942, she tragically passed away, dying of a haemorrhage during childbirth aged just 22, in Lekempti, Ethiopia. News of her passing moved her British admirers to fundraise for the completion of the Princess Tsehai Memorial Hospital in Addis Ababa which Tsehai’s father had founded, and which also served as a nursing school. (Sources: Black History;  Young Historian Project ) This young Princess did a lot in her life!    Her Father, the Emperor, must have loved her immensely to have a hospital built and named after her.

Back to the Hamlin's story

The idea was to stay for a couple of years in Ethiopia. "But we never came back." (to live in Australia)

(Source: Facebook)

In 1959 - An Ethiopian Adventure

So they set off from Sydney with their 6 year old son, Richard, sending a cable from the middle of the Indian Ocean to let their new colleagues know of their imminent arrival. It didn’t quite go according to plan.

"The cable didn’t get there until three weeks after we did, so there was nobody to meet us."

They took up a subsequent offer there and moved to Addis Ababa in 1959 to teach Midwifery at the Princess Tsehai Memorial Hospital for a few months at a hiatus in Reg’s career.

But they soon settled in. It was a general care hospital, but the Hamlins soon found themselves doing a great deal of obstetric fistula repair along with their regular obstetrics. As word of their cures spread, suffering women, shunned in their home villages, walked, sometimes hundreds of kilometres, crawled or were carried into the hospital, hoping for help.

In a country with limited resources, Reg and Catherine soon established a busy clinical practice looking after the very poor with complex problems but also delivering the Ethiopian Royal family children and aristocracy, becoming personal friends with many.

It was during this time that they came to learn about one of the scourges of African obstetrics – ischaemic vesicovaginal fistula, from prolonged obstructed labour, a deeply embarrassing birthing injury virtually unknown in the developed world. Ostracised, shunned and alone, affected women are refused entry onto public transport and not allowed into hospitals to receive treatment. Reg and Catherine then made it their life’s work to treat this condition. Catherine initially set up a hostel for them. They subsequently acquired some land on a hillside on the outskirts of Addis and entirely from public donation, built a hospital for the treatment of fistula, treating thousands of women through tumultuous political times in Ethiopia.

The Hamlin’s work would go on to help over 60,000 Ethiopian women suffering from a childbirth injury called obstetric fistula.

Obstetric Fistula: A Disease of Poverty Obstetric fistula—a urogenital fistula from obstructed labour—is now only encountered in countries where health resources are scarce. The shame associated with incontinence drives affected women further into a life of poverty and begging. Many women with fistula either do not know that they can get medical help, or if they do, they are unable to pay. (Source: WLSA) (Source: WUSTL) What we do know about the obstetric urogenital fistula is that the women who have these injuries are young, usually illiterate, and of a lower socioeconomic background. They are more often primiparous and short in stature, and they have an average length of labour of some 3.9 days. The labour is usually unattended, or if attended, it is by someone unskilled. The women inevitably deliver a stillborn child. About half of the women with fistula are divorced as a direct result of their incontinence ‘[Obstetric fistula] usually occurs when a young, poor woman has an obstructed labour and cannot get a Caesarean section when needed. The obstruction can occur because the woman's pelvis is too small, the baby's head is too big, or the baby is badly positioned. The woman can be in labour for five days or more without medical help. The baby usually dies. If the mother survives, she is left with extensive tissue damage to her birth canal that renders her incontinent.’ Woman with Obstetric fistula (Source: Plos)

By 1959, obstetric fistulas had become an "academic rarity" in Australia and the United States. Seeing many cases arrive, they decided to create a dedicated hospital. Fifteen years later, in 1974, they founded Addis Ababa Fistula Hospital which is the world's first modern fistula hospital.

"We were touched and appalled by the sadness of our first fistula patient: a beautiful young woman in urine-soaked ragged clothes, sitting alone in our outpatients department away from the other waiting patients," Dr Hamlin later recalled to the Guardian.

"We knew she was more in need than any of the others."

Two million women live with the condition globally, mostly in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia.

Without help, many die. Those who survive - like the woman in the waiting room - are left with injuries that leave them incontinent, sometimes heavily.

In Ethiopia many were left with a deep sense of shame. They found themselves banished to the outskirts of their communities, abandoned by their husbands. The stigma and social isolation led some to end their lives.

Dr Catherine performing a surgery
(Source: Sayfty)

Obstetric fistula occurs when the baby gets stuck in the birth canal, obstetric fistula can result in an agonising labour, infant death and incontinence for the mother, who are then stigmatised by their families and communities.

The Hamlins knew obstetric fistula was both fixable and preventable - as they told Ethiopia's then ruler, Emperor Haile Selassie.

"He said, why do my women get this terrible thing where they can’t control their body waste?" Dr Hamlin told the BBC.

"We said, it is nothing to do with your women, it is to do with your lack of doctors in the countryside when they need to have a Caesarian section."

1960s

Initially working from the Princess Tsehai Memorial Hospital in Addis Ababa, Catherine and Reg refined the surgical technique to close obstetric fistula injuries, while continuing to treat a broad range of obstetric cases. There were 10 free beds within the Princess Tsehai Memorial Hospital for OF patients.

Within the first three years, Catherine and Reg had operated on 300 fistula patients. As news of a cure spread, many more patients came seeking treatment.

Even as the numbers of "fistula pilgrims", as the Hamlins called them, increased, almost overwhelming the hospital and sleeping on storage room floors and in stairwells if necessary, Reg Hamlin would drive around the town, to the bus station and camps, to gather more in. The Hamlins never turned away a woman in need and, indeed, often paid the hospital charges themselves if necessary.

Eventually, in 1962, the Hamlins opened a separate 10-bed hostel for the pilgrims in the Memorial Hospital's grounds, but even this proved inadequate, and they started to plan, and then build, a full, independent, Fistula Hospital on nearby land, using overseas donations, mainly from New Zealand and Australia.

Catherine and Reg decided to fund raise and build their own free hospital only for OF patients.

In 1965

Queen Elizabeth presented Dr Reg with the Officer of the Order of the British Empire.

A mother is a family’s richest possession,
a being of priceless value.
Dr Reg Hamlin

After their years of work, medical, administrative and fundraising, the Fistula Hospital was due to be opened in 1974 by the emperor, a strong supporter of the Hamlins, but fate intervened. There was a coup in 1974, the emperor was arrested, and later found dead in his cell, and many of the Hamlins' Ethiopian friends were killed or disappeared. The country was ruled for 17 years by Colonel Mengistu Haile Mariam and was a time of war, revolution, enforced communism and famines. Despite all this, the Hamlins managed to keep working.

In 1974

First dedicated fistula hospital in Addis Ababa built with NZ aid money
(Source: Hamlin Fistula NZ)

After working to develop their own surgical technique to repair these injuries, the Hamlin’s established the Addis Ababa Fistula Hospital in 1975 - the first free and modern hospital - dedicated to only fistulas. This hospital proceeded to train generations of doctors, and the Hamlin’s would eventually expand to six Hamlin Fistula hospitals across Ethiopia.

In 1993

In 1991, Reg Hamlin was diagnosed with a malignant fibrosarcoma growing in his thigh muscle. It was removed but came back and radiation treatment in England didn't help so he returned to Ethiopia. Dr Reg continued to work for Hamlin Fistula was actively involved in the activities of the hospital and was a member of its board of trustees until the 5th August 1993, the day he passed away.

Catherine Hamlin was devastated and seriously considered giving up the hospital work and returning to Australia. Catherine’s strength and passion to offer free fistula surgery wavered only once in her lifetime, following the death of her beloved Reg in 1993. Days after his funeral, Catherine felt overwhelming fear at the prospect of running the hospital by herself.

In this moment of grief, her long-time gardener Birru knelt by her chair, “He took my hand in his, kissed the back of it and said, ‘Don’t leave us; we’ll all help you.’” A deeply religious woman, Catherine felt these words were an enormous blessing and from that moment knew that she would be “quite alright.” She took over Reg Hamlin's administration and fundraising work, despite disliking public speaking, which she had always left to him, as well as continuing to care for patients.

Towards the middle of the 1990s, though, the hospital was again too small, with patients sleeping two to a bed and anywhere else they could fit. So Hamlin buckled down again and got the Australian architect Ridley Smith, also from a missionary family, to voluntarily design the new buildings with Ethiopian architect Joseph Berada, and persuaded AusAid to put up the money.

The new hospital, increased from 40 beds to 300 beds, was officially opened in January 1999 and continues its work, doing more than 1000 operations a year.

In 1983, Catherine Hamlin was made a Member of the Order of Australia, and in 1995, was promoted to Companion of the Order of Australia. In 1998 she received the Rotary International Award for World Understanding, which came with a useful $US100,000 in prize money.

2000: Child marriage is now illegal in Ethiopia.

2002

As part of the whole patient approach she advocated, Hamlin opened a rehabilitation and reintegration centre for fistula patients in 2002. Called Desta Mender (Amharic for 'Joy Village'), the facility was built on land donated by the Ethiopian government.

The location of the site is approximately 10 kilometres from the Addis Ababa Fistula Hospital. Desta Mender has 10 houses to accommodate patients with chronic long-term injuries which require further care. Patients at the rehabilitation and reintegration centre undergo literacy and numeracy classes, counselling and vocational training.

The emphasis is now on reintegration. At Desta Mender, women receive education in literacy, numeracy and vocational training. With the help of start-up grants facilitated by Hamlin, many women have gone on to establish their own business. After the darkness of fistula, women can return to their community with hope and independence.

2003 - 2010

Between 2003 and 2010, Catherine Hamlin established five additional fistula treatment facilities in remote parts of Ethiopia, due to the higher rates of fistula cases due to less access to prenatal and perinatal care. The five hospitals are located in Bahir Dar, Mekele, Yirgalem, Harar, and Mettu. The Addis Ababa Fistula Hospital and Hamlin Fistula Ethiopia's five regional hospitals have treated more than 60,000 patients.

In 2004 she was named a National Living Treasure of Australia.

Also in 2004, Catherine Hamlin appeared on the Oprah Winfrey show to talk about her life’s work in Ethiopia. Oprah had initially been reluctant to do the interview but was so captivated by Catherine that she devoted the whole show to her and wrote her a personal cheque of nearly half a million dollars, along with the spontaneous donations made by the studio staff and audience. Oprah's donation built a clinical investigation unit and library which bears her name today. Her village for recovered obstetric fistula patients was aptly named, Desta Menda - village of joy.

As Catherine was profiled internationally on the Oprah Winfrey Show, it gave the Addis Ababa Fistula Hospital the kind of worldwide publicity that the Hamlins could never have imagined.

Hamlin's efforts to end fistula saw her lead a program of preventing obstetric fistulas through Ethiopia; she believed that midwifery was key to preventing fistulas from occurring in the first place. Hamlin argued that "to put a well trained midwife in every village would soon eradicate obstetric fistulae."

Three trainee midwives with Dr Catherine (2009)
(Source: Wikipedia)

In 2007 she founded the Hamlin College of Midwives. Hamlin Fistula Ethiopia recruits students from rural areas, provides a full four-year scholarship for students as they gain their Bachelor of Science (Midwifery) degree. Upon their graduation, students are deployed back to their communities where their skills are needed. As of November 2019, 170 midwives have graduated from the college; 92 are currently studying. Hamlin Fistula Ethiopia has partnered with the Ethiopian government to provide resources and midwives who have graduated from the Hamlin College of Midwives, to 80 government midwifery clinics across regional Ethiopia.

Update: "Since 2007, over 230 midwives have graduated from the Hamlin College of Midwives.

There are currently over 90 rural Hamlin-supported midwifery clinics staffed by Hamlin Midwives. Midwives prevent hundreds of maternal and neonatal deaths and are saving many mothers from suffering devastating childbirth injuries." (Source: Catherine Hamlin Fistula Foundation)

Two Midwife Graduates
(Source: Hamlin)

2011

Catherine was among 50 prominent Australians invited by Her Excellency the Governor-General Quentin Bryce to lunch with the Queen.

Catherine shaking hands with Queen Elizabeth II, Governor-General Quentin Bryce and Duke of Edinburgh in attendance
(Source: Wikipedia)

2015

With her son Richard
(Source: Sayfty [Dr Catherine Hamlin; )

In February 2015, Hamlin received a visit by fellow Australian, Crown Princess Mary of Denmark
(now Queen Mary)
(Source: Daily Mail UK)

2016

A Sydney Ferries Emerald-class ferry was named the ‘Catherine Hamlin’ after thousands of Australian supporters voted for her.

First of new Sydney ferries graces the Harbour, carrying name of pioneering Australian doctor
 
ABC News 21 November 2016

In 2019

In 2019, Hamlin celebrated the 60th anniversary of her arrival in Ethiopia at a ceremony at the Addis Ababa Fistula Hospital. The Ethiopian Prime Minister, Abiy Ahmed, gave a speech recognising Hamlin's great impact on Ethiopia and presented her with the prestigious Eminent Citizen Award on behalf of the Government of Ethiopia. She is one of only three people ever to receive this accolade.

Awards & Recognition

1971 – Emperor Haile Selassie Humanitarian Prize and Medal
1983 – Member of the Order of Australia A.M.
1984 – ANZAC Peace Prize
1987 – Gold Medal of Merit, Order of St. Gregory the Great by Pope John Paul- Benemerenti Gold Medallist
1989 – Honorary Gold Medal, Royal College of Surgeons of England
1992 – Distinguished Service Award, American College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists
1994 – Achievement Award Australia Day Awards
1995 – Companion of the Order of Australia A.C.
1996 – Zonta International Award, International Honorary Member
1998 – Rotary Award for World Understanding and Peace, Rotary International
1999 – Nominee, Nobel Peace Prize
2000 – Centenary Medal, The Order of Australia Association
2003 – Honorary Fellow, American College of Surgeons
2004 – National Living Treasure of Australia, National Trust of Australia
2004 – Best Practices in Global Health, Global Health Council
2005 – Honorary Fellow, Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh
2005 – Doctor of Medicine Honoris causa, University of Sydney
2006 – Doctorate of Law, Honoris causa, University of Dundee
2006 – Honorary Fellow of the Australian College of Educators
2009 – Gold Medal, World Association for Sexual Healthcare, Rotary International
2009 – Right Livelihood Award, Stockholm, Sweden
2010 – Honorary Doctorate, Addis Ababa University, Ethiopia
2010 – Lifetime Achievement Award, “People to People”, Ethiopia
2010 – Achievement Award, (International Women’s Day), President of Ethiopia
2012 – Honorary Ethiopian Citizenship, Prime Minister Meles Zenawi
2014 – Nominee, Nobel Peace Prize
2014 – Distinguished Surgeon Award Society of Gynecologic Surgeons (SGS)

Did You Know? Companion of the Order of Australia The Companion of the Order of Australia is awarded for eminent achievement and merit of the highest degree in service to Australia or humanity at large. In the Australian honours system appointments to the Order of Australia confer the highest recognition for outstanding achievement and service. There are two divisions of the Order of Australia: the Civil or General Division and the Military Division The Order of Australia has four levels: Companion of the Order (AC) Officer of the Order (AO) Member of the Order (AM) Medal of the Order (OAM) Companion of the Order of Australia Catherine Hamlin received this highest honour of Companion of the Order (AC) in 1995. (Source: Prime Minister & Cabinet)

Death

Dr Catherine Hamlin died in Addis Ababa aged 96 on 18 March 2020.

Dr. Hamlin is survived by her son Richard and his four adult children: Sarah, Paul,  Catherine & Stephanie, her sister Ailsa Pottie and brothers Donald and Jock Nicholson. She was buried alongside Reg, in the British War Graves Cemetery in Addis Ababa.

The Catherine Hamlin Fistula Foundation continues to support a program of midwife training and holistic rehabilitation, with 80 maternal clinics and five more hospitals offering women the chance for a safe birth.

Across the world people mourned her death but particularly in Ethiopia.

(Source: ABC News)

2025

Hamlin Fistula Ethiopia is a healthcare network of over 550 Ethiopian staff servicing six hospitals, Desta Mender Rehabilitation and Reintegration Centre, the Hamlin College of Midwives and over 90 Hamlin-supported midwifery clinics.

Today, Hamlin Fistula Ethiopia remains the reference organisation and leader in the fight to eradicate obstetric fistula around the world, blazing a trail for holistic treatment and care that empowers women to reassert their humanity, secure their health and wellbeing, and regain their roles in their families and communities.

Under Dr Catherine Hamlin’s pioneering guidance, over 70,000 Ethiopian women with fistula injuries have had their lives transformed under the Hamlin Model of Care.

The team at Hamlin continue to carry Catherine’s torch and vision, working towards her goal of a Fistula-Free Ethiopia.

(Source: Hamlin Fistula UK)

AI Overview

Dr. Catherine Hamlin AC (1924–2020) was a renowned Australian obstetrician and gynaecologist who co-founded the Addis Ababa Fistula Hospital and devoted over 60 years to treating and rehabilitating women with obstetric fistula in Ethiopia. Known as the "Saint of Ethiopia," she was recognized for her extraordinary compassion, resilience, and pioneering medical work.

Key attributes of Dr. Catherine Hamlin included:

• Extraordinary Compassion and Dedication: She dedicated her life to restoring the health and dignity of over 60,000 vulnerable Ethiopian women, treating them with a "holistic model of care" that went beyond surgery to provide love and emotional healing.

• Pioneering Medical Expertise: Alongside her husband Reg, she refined surgical techniques for repairing devastating obstetric fistula injuries, making their hospital a global centre of excellence.

• Resilience and Persistence: She demonstrated immense persistence in navigating political turmoil and logistical challenges in Ethiopia for six decades to continue her work.

• Humility and Selflessness: Despite receiving numerous international accolades—including Nobel Peace Prize nominations—she often deflected praise to her team and lived simply on the hospital grounds.

• Visionary Leadership: She was a visionary who not only focused on treatment but also on prevention, establishing the Hamlin College of Midwives to train local women and ensure lasting impact.

• Passionate Advocacy: She was a tireless advocate for marginalized women and an effective fundraiser, affectionately referring to herself as a "professional beggar" to secure funding for her programs.

• Christian Faith: Her work was driven by her strong Christian faith and the desire to serve "the least of these".

Dr. Hamlin’s legacy lives on through the Hamlin Fistula Ethiopia organization, which continues to provide free, comprehensive care to women with obstetric fistula.

Links

Catherine Hamlin Fistula Foundation	Mamamia The Age 20 March 2020 c. Sydney University d. Video: RANZCOG - 2001 Lecture by Dr Hamlin
Australian of the Year Awards - In Memorian
ABC News 22 March 2020
Other links: a. Wikipedia b. Australian of the Year Awards
ABC The Science Show 2 May 2020
Articles from The Conversation 2 January 2019

Books

The Hospital by the River by Dr Catherine Hamlin
Co-written with Australian Journalist and Author John Little 2016

Catherine's Gift by John Little

Film - "A Walk to Beautiful"

The award-winning film – A Walk to Beautiful - based on Dr Hamlin, was released in December, 2007. The story follows five women who have suffered from devastating childbirth injuries and their journeys to the Addis Ababa Fistula Hospital. Through the work of Dr Hamlin and her staff, the women’s lives are transformed. (Source: IMDb)

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