About 300 to 500 people gathered in the Octagon on May 12, the birthday of Florence Nightingale, to protest about the working conditions for nurses.
It was one of many held around the country.
It grew from social media page "New Zealand, please hear our voice", which was launched in March by a North Island nurse and a South Island nurse collectively named "Nurse Flo".
"It’s clear that the community actually does care. It would have been great if the entire community could come, but as you can see there are tons of graduations going on."
The day was about nurses and nursing, she said.
"We want to do our job properly and we can’t do that, given the resources and the pay and conditions we are working under."
Nurses were too tired and their morale had disappeared.
"Ethically and professionally we are required to stand up and say we have actually got to do better by our patients our communities and the people we work with."
Health Minister David Clark was an "ethical and responsible person" who stood on the platform of heath, and "I know he would do the right thing," she said.
A Dunedin Hospital nurse at the rally, who did not want to be named, said more nurses were needed to ease the burden and "we should be able to work full time if we wish without burning ourselves out."
About 30 Oamaru nurses cheered as passing cars and trucks honked their horns in support on State Highway 1 near the Oamaru Hospital ambulance entrance, from noon to 1pm on Saturday.
Oamaru Hospital nurse Jojan McLeod said the action was about solidarity with other nurses and better care for patients.
Too often nurses worked "a lot of extra hours without getting recompensed for it".
