General Nursing Certificates awarded by the Ovens District Hospital
1896 — 1954
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The Ovens District Hospital (ODH) committee of management in 1896 received written advice from the administrators of the Melbourne, Alfred and Homoeopathic Hospitals in relation to the value of women as nurses, as compared with men. Part of this advice stated ... that the staff should be females, but they must have passed a full course of training for three years; above all, it is essential that the matron should be trained and a better nurse than those under her control, and should also be director of her staff and responsible for their work and conduct.[1]
The Alfred's Hospital Secretary, expressed surprise and disappointment, when on a visit to the hospital he found only male attendants. He didn't hesitate to tell the committee of management that they were a long way behind the times and urged them to, as was the practice in all the metropolitan hospitals, to employ female nurses only.
At an ODH committee of management meeting on 3 March 1896, the House Committee recommended that the necessary steps be immediately taken to provide for the introduction of female nurses in the place of the present system. Taken at face value, it seems that women as nurses had not been previously employed at the ODH. However, this is not the case as at least four women, Mary Ann O'Brien, Elizabeth Nickless, Mary Dodd and Mrs McConville were appointed as nursing staff prior to 1896.
The March 1896 recommendation led to the employment of a matron, Mary Warden, three trained staff nurses; Beatrice Floyd, Eleanor Lindsay and Philippa Smith, along with two pupil nurses, Jean Creighton and Matilda Tobias.
After almost fifty-nine years the ODH in January 1955, at the behest of Victoria's Hospitals and Charities Commission, ceased to be a training school for nurses. This decision meant that all future nursing staffing would be made up of trained nurses assisted by nurse assistants and nursing aides. See Trove
Mary Jessie Warden, matron at the Ovens District Hospital
July 1896 - April 1898
Twenty-nine-year-old Scottish born Mary Warden entered a maelstrom of discontent when she commenced her duties as matron in early July 1896. However, by exercising a great deal of tact, she gradually overcame the Committee of Management’s suspicion and mistrust as well as dissipating the friction caused by the employment of three certified nurses and two probationers.
Mary and her nurses were responsible for the care of up to 100 patients spread across ten wards, including two isolation wards and a tent. Their hours of duty were long and for one month in three they were rostered on night duty.
The annual salaries were; Matron £60, head nurses £35 per annum whilst the probationers received no payment for their first year but in their second year their salary was £10. However by May 1898 first year probationers were paid an an annual salary of £12.
The women listed below were awarded their general nursing certificates from the Ovens District Hospital between 1898 and 1955. Their names were gleaned from various archival sources such as the ODH House Committee minutes, Victorian and New South Wales Government Gazettes and newspapers, in particular the Ovens & Murray Advertiser.
A grateful thanks is extended to the Beechworth Health Service for allowing me access to their archival material and also to fellow family and social historian, Heather Lane, who assisted enormously in researching the background of many these women.
[1] Ovens and Murray Advertiser, 7 March 1896.
©Anne Hanson, 2025 E-mail: Anne Hanson
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