Myrtle Ivy Quicke (née Lindsay) RN RM

When Myrtle Ivy Quicke was 18 years old, she commenced training at the Melbourne Hospital and later studied midwifery at the Women’s Hospital in Melbourne. She also had certificates of the Royal Sanitary Institute, London.

In 1938, Quicke was appointed to the Department of Health in Victoria where she had the supervision of private hospitals. She later became a health inspector and was the first woman in Australia to hold a certificate in meat inspection.

In August 1943, when standing for election to the Royal Victorian College of Nursing, Quicke declared that she would work for the progress of nursing, with special emphasis on self-government, improved conditions of work and the maintenance of the highest possible standard of training for nurses. She believed that nurses should play a greater role in the administration of health matters and their education.

In 1945 Quicke took up an appointment with the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration, where she served as Deputy Chief Nurse, London; Regional Chief Nurse, Germany; and Regional Nurse Consultant, China. She was in charge of nurses from 13 different countries and visited hospitals, sanitoria, district nursing societies and schools of nursing in England, Germany, Canada, the United States of America, China and the Philippines.

In a letter published in the Victorian Nurses Journal “UNA” in March 1946, Quicke wrote “Much useful information comes my way and quietly observing all nationalities, studying their training methods and organisation, I am more than ever convinced that Australia has to realise that Australian nurse training has to become wider in scope and that individual nurses must see that greater interest is taken in nursing affairs. Our general training is good as far as it goes, but the world’s trend is for wider nursing activity, greater influence and nursing participation in all health matters. Australia is lacking in this, as also in the necessary training.”

When Quicke stood for election to the Council of the Royal Victorian College of Nursing in 1948, she said her aim was to work for unity. She saw one organisation for the nurses of Australia which would be capable of acting for and protecting nurses in all matters to meet the full needs of the public. She felt that nurse training in Australia had to be broader in scope and that nurses should participate in all areas of public health not just the hospital setting. Quicke saw the establishment of the College as a way of uniting nurses.

After marrying in 1955 and settling in the small Victorian town of Cockatoo, Quicke set about the possibility of setting up a Bush Nursing Centre and a building was erected and equipped in 1964.

Myrtle Quicke died in 1979 leaving most of her estate to the College to establish a scholarship for postgraduate nursing studies – the Myrtle Ivy Quicke Memorial Nursing Scholarship.

Edith Hughes-Jones OBE RCNA

Edith Hughes-Jones was born in 1905 in Tungamah, Victoria. She undertook her general nursing training at the Alfred Hospital, Prahan, and completed midwifery at the (Royal) Women’s Hospital, Melbourne.

She was able to find funds to buy a private hospital in Toorak, Windarra, where she had worked as matron. In 1938 she became the owner and matron of Windemere at Prahan and developed it into one of Melbourne’s best-known private hospitals. She used her independence to benefit nursing.

When the hospital ship Centaur was sunk in 1943, with the loss of over 250 lives including 11 nurses, Edith instigated the Centaur War Nurses’ Memorial Trust, acting at different times as honorary secretary, trustee and member of its scholarship committee. She had had close associations with many nurses who were killed in WWII and this reinforced her dedication and led to the role she played in establishing the War Nurses Memorial Centre in 1948.

Edith was known for being determined and sometimes demanding. She was, however, also compassionate, innovative, generous and grateful. The Windermere Hospital set up a charitable foundation in the 1970s and although the hospital was sold in 1998, Edith’s legacy lives on through the foundation.