LibGuides: Library Resource Guides: Focus on individual nurses & midwives

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Sister Bullwinkel : the untold, uncensored story by Lynette Ramsay Silver
Call Number: 940.547252 SIL 2025
Nightingale by Laura Elvery
Call Number: 610.730924 ELV 2025
The war nurses by Anthea Hodgson
Call Number: 940.547252 HOD 2024

Recommended reference sources

Nurses and midwives in Australian history : a guide to historical resources by Noeline Kyle, R Lynette Russell & Jennifer Blundell
Call Number: 610.730994 KYL 2015

Biblio = 4525

General nursing history texts

Nurses of Australia : the illustrated story by Deborah Burrows
Call Number: 610.734309944223 BUR 2018

Biblio = 4831
The growth of a profession : nursing in Victoria 1930s-1980s by Judith & Bob Bessant
Call Number: 610.7309945 BES 1991

Biblio = 4841
Celebrating nursing : a visual history by Christine E. Hallett
Call Number: 610.7309 HAL 2010

Biblio = 3132
All care and responsibility : a history of nursing in Victoria 1850-1934 by Richard Trembath & Donna Hellier
Call Number: 610.7309945 TRE 1987
A tapestry of service: the evolution of nursing in Australia: Volume 1 : Foundation to Federation 1788-1900 by Bartz Schultz
Call Number: 610.730994 SCH

Biographies of nurses and midwives

Lowitja : the authorised biography of Lowitja O'Donoghue by Stuart Rintoul
Call Number: 994.0049915 RIN 2020
From the heart : true stories by Australian nurses by Amanda Tattam
Call Number: 610.7309 TAT
Not your average nurse by Maggie Groff.
Call Number: 610.73092 GRO 2017

Biblio = 4825
Yes sister, no sister : my life as a trainee nurse in 1950s Yorkshire by Jennifer Craig
Call Number: 610.73092 CRA 2010
Don't stand on the grass : memoirs of early nursing in Melbourne by Fleur Finnie
Call Number: 610.73092 FIN 1996
Sisters in captivity : Sister Betty Jeffrey OAM and the courageous story of Australian Army nurses in Sumatra, 1942-1945 by Colin Burgess
Call Number: 940.547252 BUR 2025
Australia's controversial matron : Gwen Burbidge and nursing reform by Judith Godden
Call Number: 610.73092 GOD
Jane Bell OBE (1873-1959) Lady Superintendent, The Royal Melbourne Hospital (1910-1934) by Jennifer A. Williams
Call Number: 610.73092 WIL 1988
Lucy Osburn, a lady displaced by Judith Godden
Call Number: 610.73092 GOD 2006
Notes on Nightingale : the influence and legacy of a nursing icon by Sioban Nelson & Anne Marie Rafferty
Call Number: 610.73 NEL

Browse the ANMF (Vic Branch) Library History collection

Browse the History collection in the Library catalogue

Aboriginal nurses' experiences

Lowitja : the authorised biography of Lowitja O'Donoghue by Stuart Rintoul
Call Number: 994.0049915 RIN 2020
In our own right: Black Australian nurses' stories by Congress Of Aboriginal And Torres Strait Islander Nurses Members
Call Number: 610.73092 GOO
In our own right : Black Australian nurses' stories [videorecording] by Cam Slamm
Call Number: 610.73092 SLA 2007

'Some of us pushed forward and let the world see what could be done': Aboriginal Australian nurses and midwives, 1900-2005 by Odette Best & Don Gorman (2016)
Article from Labour History 111:149-164

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This paper locates the voices of Aboriginal nurses and midwives which only emerged in publications from the 1950s onwards. It seeks to privilege the voices of Aboriginal nurses and midwives, and recognise their contributions to the nursing and midwifery professions. It identifies two key developments in Australian history that influenced the acceptance of Aboriginal women into a career in nursing and midwifery: the gradual decline of policies of protection, segregation and assimilation, and the shift of nursing education from hospitals into the tertiary sector.

Do not pay for any articles, always check with the ANMF (Vic Branch) library. Submit an article request form (free for members)

Web resources

Australian Nurses Memorial Centre
The ANMC was founded by Australian War Nurses who survived unimaginable adversity during the WWII - read some of their stories online.
Australian Nursing and Midwifery History Project
The ANMHP is hosted by the Department of Nursing at the University of Melbourne. It includes a biographical register, details of historic nursing organisations, and reference sources.
Australian Women who served - units & names
The Great War Forum site was created for discussion and research on all aspects of World War I
Encyclopaedia of Australian Science database
Features information about individuals, organisations, societies, institutions, and industries, including several biographies of Australian nurses and midwives.
Nurse training books at PROV
As part of a major Department of Health and Human Services records transfer, nurse training books from Fairfield are now available at the Public Records Office of Victoria collection. Contained within the four volumes that make up the series you can find entries for nurses in training.
State Library of Victoria Blog
Celebrating our nurses: the history of nursing in Victoria by Jane Miller posted 12 May 2023
Victorian Collections
Includes digitised photos, uniforms, and ephemera from a range of Victorian libraries, archives, museums and historical societies. eHive is another, similar resource.
Victorian Government Gazette
Search the lists of Midwives and lists of Nurses to find historical information including names, addresses, registration number, dates (of addition, change or removal from the register), and hospital (for nurses training):
• Midwives Registers: 1916-1956
• Nurses Registers: 1925-1956