BOPDHB History Tauranga Hospital Centennial Book | Page 26

Did You Know?
The first baby to be born in the old Maternity Annexe was
Norman Leslie, on 24 February 1944. To celebrate his birth,
his mother was given five pounds by the Hospital Board.
Norman Leslie has lived all his life in Tauranga and two of
his children and four of his grandchildren were also born in
the Maternity Annexe.
His great-grandfather, Alexander James Leslie, was an
Assistant Surgeon during the New Zealand Land Wars and
was the inventor of Leslie’s Patent Tape Plaster.

Determined to Survive
In 1978 Kris Holmes was born weighing 780 grams at 28
weeks. At that time his chances of survival were considered
unlikely and he was cared for here in the Tauranga
Neonatal Unit where he was nursed to full health and
discharged home 11 weeks later. From the 1980’s and
1990’s huge