Muriel Knox Doherty RRC FCN (NSW)

Muriel Knox Doherty was an outstanding Australian nurse who made many contributions to the profession throughout her long and varied career as an exceptional nurse, a well-loved teacher, and a skilled nurse administrator.

Born in Melbourne in 1896, Muriel began work in 1914 as the school nurse at Woodstock private school and unqualified teacher at Abbotsleigh in Wahroonga. When WWI broke out, she gained a St John Ambulance First Aid Home Nursing Certificate, and from 1915 to 1921 was a member of the No. 6 Red Cross Voluntary Aid Detachment and was sent to Royal Prince Alfred Hospital (RPAH) for further training. After the war the Matron invited Muriel to undertake formal nurse training which she did in 1921, graduating as a registered nurse in 1925, winning the Alfred Roberts medal.

In 1930 Doherty enrolled in the Sister Tutor course at King’s College of Household and Social Sciences, University College of London. On completing the course, she returned to Australia where she introduced the first preliminary training school for nurses in NSW.

In 1935 she volunteered for the Australian Army Nursing Service and was appointed as a staff nurse in the Army Reserve on the outbreak of WWII in 1939. She went on to serve with distinction and was promoted to Principal Matron and Wing Commander in the Royal Australian Air Force Nursing Service. She was also awarded the Red Cross Medal (1st Class).

In 1945 Doherty joined the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration Organisation travelling to London and then Germany to take up a position as Chief Nurse and Principal Matron of the recently liberated Bergen-Belsen Concentrations Camp. She then went to Poland where she assisted in rehabilitating nursing education.

At the end of 1945 Doherty returned to Australia where she worked toward the establishment of a college of nursing, becoming a founding member of the Provisional Council of the New South Wales College of Nursing in 1949.

Throughout her career Doherty kept a record of her experiences and collected documents and other nursing memorabilia. Most of her papers were placed in the archives of the New South Wales College of Nursing. Other material was deposited in the State Library of New South Wales, the National Library of Australia, the Australian War Memorial, Canberra, and the Yad Vashem Holocaust Martyrs’ and Heroes’

Remembrance Authority, Jerusalem. She also wrote an autobiography, Off the Record, edited by Professor Lynette Russell AO FACN.
Doherty was a tireless advocate for the profession, appealing to anyone she felt could help her achieve what she saw as necessary for nursing. She remained passionate throughout her life about nursing and did whatever she thought was necessary to help advance the profession.

Doherty died in 1988.

Margaret Frances Guy (née Looker) OBE FCN (NSW) FRNC

Margaret Guy was born Martha Fannie Looker in 1910 in Tasmania before moving to Sydney with her family. She matriculated from the University of Sydney in 1930 and completed two years of medicine with distinction before her scholarship was discontinued due to the Depression. Her family was unable to support her continued studies and so she made the decision to switch to nursing.

Guy gained her General Nursing Certificate from Royal Prince Alfred Hospital (RPAH) in 1936 with top marks and her Midwifery Certificate from Crown Street Women’s Hospital in 1939. After a period working at RPAH, Guy joined the Army Nursing Service in 1940, serving with distinction in the Middle East front line with the 2/1st Australian General Hospital and the 2/2Nd Field Hospital. She was also with the 2/1st Australian General Hospital in Papua and on Bougainville before being discharged in 1945 with the rank of Captain.

While in England, Guy was awarded one of six international scholarships funded by the Australian Red Cross through the state Florence Nightingale Memorial Committee (FNMC) to study at the Royal College of Nursing (RCN), London, 1946-47. She completed her Sister Tutor Diploma at RCN and Part A in the Diploma in Nursing from the University of London in 1947.

When Guy returned to Sydney, she was appointed Matron at RPAH, holding the position 1947-1954. She was both a member of the FNMC (NSW) and the Institute of Hospital Matrons of NSW and ACT during the years leading up to the foundation of the NSW College of Nursing. During 1949 and subsequent years she worked in both Sydney and Canberra to ensure the establishment and ongoing success of the College.

In 1952 she became a Foundation Fellow and was recognised as one of the four founders. Guy was President of the College from November 1952 to July 1953.

After being awarded a Rotary and Fulbright Travel Grant in 1954-55, Guy gained her Diploma in Nursing Administration at the University of Chicago and then worked as a tutor sister at Winchester, England. From 1956 she held the position of Matron to Canberra Community Hospital for sixteen years, overseeing unprecedented growth and progress in nursing education.

Guy’s services to nursing were recognised with an OBE in 1961 and in 1966 she was the first woman to be awarded a Churchill Fellowship, using it to study in the United States, Britain and Europe for six months. Guy was a woman of vision who paved the way to modern nursing methods, fought to obtain professional status for nurses and for better education.

Guy died in 1988.