Elsie Jane Whicker

Last updated • 2 min readFrom Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia

Elsie Jane Whicker
Born16 January 1899
Hendon, Middlesex, England
Died24 January 1987 (aged 88)
Nationality British Australian
Occupationnurse
Employer New South Wales Bush Nursing Association

Elsie Jane Whicker MBE (16 January 1899 – 24 January 1987) was a British Australian bush-nursing superintendent of the New South Wales Bush Nursing Association.

Contents

Life

Whicker was born in England at Hendon in 1899. Her mother was Frances Ellen (born Jones) and her father was a joiner named John Henwood. After she married she and her husband Charles Edward Whicker emigrated to Australia. She and Charles had a divorce in 1926 and she trained to become a nurse. [1]

In 1953 there were 31 different centres of the New South Wales Bush Nursing Association with headquarters in Sydney. The organisation had been founded forty years before to supply nursing in remote areas. [2] Whicker was based at the HQ as the new superintendent. She travelled a lot to visit the diaspora of centres and she kept and enjoyed a detailed correspondence with each of the nurses. They would tell her of their progress and problems and she was also told of local social events. The bush nurses enjoyed a good degree of self-management but their job could also be lonely. [1] Whicker's contribution was to give them support and this was recognised in 1960 when she became a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE). [3] She had kept a high profile, for example when she was given a few months vacation in 1959 she used it to attend conferences and nursing facilities in the UK, Scandinavia and Canada. She had contacts internationally as she was a member of the British-based Royal College of Nursing. She had been at the International Nursing Congress in Melbourne in 1955 and the Pan-Pacific Rehabilitation Conference in Sydney in 1958 on behalf of the association. [1]

Death and legacy

The New South Wales Bush Nursing Association had just 16 centres in 1972 and it was wound up in 1975 as its centres were taken over by the Health Department. [2] Whicker died in 1987 in the Sydney suburb of Eastwood. [2]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation</span> Australian union

The Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation (ANMF) is the largest union in Australia, with 274,956 members in 2018. The union is run by nurses, midwives and assistants in nursing to advance the industrial, political and professional interests of its members.

Lucy Osburn was an English nurse trained at the School of Nursing founded by Florence Nightingale. She is regarded as the founder of modern nursing in Australia.

The Royal District Nursing Service (RDNS) is a not-for-profit community health and care provider with headquarters in Keswick, a suburb of Adelaide, South Australia. It has progressed through a series of iterations:

Olive Eva Anstey was an Australian hospital matron.

Katrina Zepps was an Australian nurse (general), nurse educator and refugee. She was born in Hlukhiv and died in Turramurra, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.

The timeline of nursing history in Australia and New Zealand stretches from the 19th century to the present.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rose Creal</span> Australian nurse (1865–1921)

Rose Ann Creal, was a decorated Australian nurse of the First World War.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Susan McGahey</span>

Susan Bell McGahey was the matron of the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital from 1891 to 1904. McGahey was also co-founder of the Australasian Trained Nurses' Association in 1899 and president of the International Council of Nurses from 1904 to 1909.

Mary May Scollen (1887–1967), known by her religious name as Sister Mary Justinian, was an Australian religious who was notable for her nursing and hospital administration. She joined the North Sydney congregation of the Sisters of Mercy, professing final vows in 1907. Trained as a nurse, she served as matron of the Mater Misericordis Hospital in the north Sydney area, for 44 years. She then served as hospital administrator for four years, and concurrently was the superior for her convent. She was appointed M.B.E. in 1958.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jane Bell (nurse)</span> Scotland-born Australian nurse and midwife (1873–1959)

Jane Bell (1873–1959) was an Scotland-born Australian nurse and midwife. She is best known for her work with Australian Imperial Force (AIF) field hospitals in Egypt in World War I, and for her advocacy for the nursing profession.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Muriel Knox Doherty</span> Australian nurse and air force principal matron (1896–1988)

Muriel Knox Doherty, was an Australian nurse who served as a matron in the Royal Australian Air Force Nursing Service during the Second World War and then as a member of the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration in the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp in Germany.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Georgina McCready</span> Australian nurse and trade unionist (1888-1980)

Georgina McCready, nee Johnstone, MBE, was a founding member of the New South Wales Nurses Association (NSWNA) in 1931 and the New South Wales College of Nursing (NSWCN) in 1949. She was the founding president for the college from 1949 to 1950 and chaired the first meeting of the provisional council for the college. Also, McCready was one of the first supervisory sisters in the NSW Department of Health in 1929. The McCready Scholarship was established in 1954 by the NSWNA in her honour. She was appointed MBE (Member of the British Empire, 8 June 1963 for services to the nursing profession. It was during her term as a supervisory nurse inspecting hospital standards for the NSW Board of Health in 1929, that Georgina found the low salaries and poor working and living conditions for nurses throughout NSW. She found that, many hospitals fell below Nurses Registration Board requirements and nurses had no industrial cover. Supported by Jessie Street and in partnerships with Iono Nowland Georgina formed the NSW Nurses Association at an emergency meeting 27 March 1931. The 1931 Executive included Nowland as president and Johnstone as honorary secretary.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kathleen Hope Barnes</span> Australian nurse (1909–1981)

Kathleen Hope Barnes ARRC MBE was an Australian nurse who was promoted to captain in the Australian Army Nursing Service during the second world war. She was mention in dispatches and was honoured by the Red Cross and with an MBE.

Evelyn Paget Evans was an Australian administrator. She led several organisations associated with medicine and nursing. She argued against nurses being in a union and for giving them improved working conditions. She was secretary of the Australian Physiotherapy Association from 1917 until 1956.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Irene Hall</span> Australian hospital matron (1888–1961)

Irene Slater Hall MBE was an Australian hospital matron who over 40 years became "synonymous" with the former Royal Newcastle Hospital.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Australasian Trained Nurses' Association</span> Assoc of Australasian Trained Nurses

The Australasian Trained Nurses' Association was an association formed in 1899 to register nurses who had been trained in Australia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Clara Winifred Howie</span> Australian nurse and administrator (1881–1960)

Clara Winifred Howie MBE was an Australian nurse and administrator. Also known as Winifred Howie, in 1937 she was the acting President of the Australasian Trained Nurses' Association before leading the South Australian branch until 1941.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Agnes Mary Lions</span> Australian nurse (1908 – 1992)

Agnes Mary Lions MBE known as Molly Lions was an Australian industrial nurse and unionist. She was a founding member of the New South Wales College of Nursing.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nellie Morrice</span> (1881–1963) nurse and administrator

Nellie Constance Morrice was an Australian army and civilian nurse. Following her overseas military service in World War I, she was secretary of the New South Wales Bush Nursing Association for 23 years, overseeing significant growth in its coverage.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">New South Wales Bush Nursing Association</span>

The New South Wales Bush Nursing Association was an Australian nursing organization founded in 1911 by Rachel Ward, Countess of Dudley, while she was serving as the Viceregal consort of Australia. It grew to over one hundred locations It was discontinued in the 1970s as its organisation was taken over by the country's health department.

References

  1. 1 2 3 Page, Vilma, "Elsie Jane Whicker (1899–1987)", Australian Dictionary of Biography, Canberra: National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, retrieved 30 May 2024
  2. 1 2 3 Russell & Cornell 2012, p. [ page needed ].
  3. "Honours" (PDF). The Gazette.[ full citation needed ]

Sources