A cure for all ills: medicine in Bendigo

‘A training school for
nurses commenced
at Bendigo Hospital
in 1885, marking the
beginning of nursing
education in the
region.’
School 64 in class with
Sister Miller
c1965
gelatin silver print
Northern District School
of Nursing Assembly
Room set-up for final
exams
1957
gelatin silver print
Collection Northern
District School of
Nursing Graduates
Association
for by male wardsmen with female
nurses only employed with the
admittance of female patients. The
first recorded female nurse employed
by the Bendigo hospital was Janet
Morgan in 1859. 34 Early nurses were
untrained, and in addition to patient
care their role entailed a significant
amount of menial housekeeping
chores.
In 1859, after serving as a nurse
in the Crimean War, Florence
Nightingale published her famous
Notes on Nursing. By 1860, she had
become hospital advisor to the world
and is credited as the founder of
modern nursing, with a focus on
discipline, cleanliness and service.
Nurses’ training in Australia was built
on the foundations of the Nightingale
system; an apprentice-type scheme
where formal training was completed
in the wards of selected training
hospitals and student nurses received
theoretical instruction in the form of
clinical and classroom lectures often
presented by the Matron, resident
surgeon or general practitioners
outside rostered hours.
A training school for nurses
commenced at Bendigo Hospital
in 1885, marking the beginning
of nursing education in the
region. The facility was under the
direction of resident surgeon Dr
Archibald Colquhoun. Aside from
a short recess in the late 1880s, the
school continued until 1989. The
introduction of formal training
elevated the status of nurses in the
Bendigo hospital. By the 1890s,
genuine attempts were being made
to differentiate between nursing
staff and housekeeping staff and the
hierarchy of the hospital became
clearly defined by those who were
trained and those who were not.
By the turn of the century,
while nursing had matured into a
specialised profession and working
conditions had somewhat improved,
nurses were still poorly renumerated.
Local nurse Isabel ‘Spark’ Gill, who
commenced nursing at Bendigo
hospital in 1936, received her
training under the Nightingale
system. In her book Nursing in the
30s, she describes the conditions
of nursing at the time. ‘Nurses
worked sixty hours a week or longer
without overtime and for no or
little remuneration. Most hospitals
expected nurses to provide their own
uniforms. Nurses lived in nurse’s
homes under strict supervision, and
attended lectures in their own time.
22 23