Australia
Lucy Osburn Nightingale Badge Presentation
On 6 February 2024, I was fortunate enough to attend the ceremony at Sydney Hospital. It was the most beautiful sunny day and a great thrill to visit the hospital where I had worked during the 1980s. This special event was the presentation of the Nightingale Badge to Sydney Hospital in recognition of the pioneering work of Lucy Osburn, the Lucy Osburn Nightingale Museum, and for all the Nightingale Nurses.
Sydney Hospital has historic ties with St Thomas’. Lucy Osburn was from Leeds, Yorkshire and a graduate of St Thomas’ training school. She was selected by Florence Nightingale, to go to Sydney in 1868, with five trained nursing sisters, to establish the first School of Nursing in Australia on the Macquarie Street site, at what was then Sydney Infirmary and Dispensary (later Sydney Hospital).
Lucy Osburn was duly appointed Lady Superintendent and fought hard, against considerable opposition, to upgrade patient care, based on sound Nightingale Principles. By the time Lucy returned to England in 1884, trained nursing had been successfully established at Sydney Hospital and greater New South Wales.
The ceremony was held in The Claffy Lecture Theatre at Sydney Hospital, Macquarie Street, Sydney, New South Wales. The beautifully framed Nightingale Badge was presented by Gillian Prager, President Emeritus of the Nightingale Fellowship, to Natalie Maier, Director of Sydney Hospital/Sydney Eye Hospital.
It was a very happy and memorable day with a keynote address from Professor Jill White, Professor Emerita University of Technology, Sydney (UTS) and University of Sydney (USyd). There followed closing remarks from Natalie Maier and then a wonderful afternoon tea, complete with cupcakes bearing a picture of the Nightingale Badge, and a beautiful cake. Later, there was a viewing of The Lady Superintendent, a short film about Lucy Osburn by the Film maker Meg Collins, also a nurse.
I met up with past nursing colleagues and also some fellow Nightingales, who had made Australia their permanent home, and others who were travelling. We spent a lovely time reminiscing about our nursing careers before retirement.
If you are visiting Australia, The Lucy Osburn Nightingale Museum has an interesting and varied display and a visit to see it is highly recommended. I am sure you will be made very welcome.
Ms Georgina Wingfield, Trustee