Born:
Lucy Osburn on 10 May 1835.
She trained at St Thomas’
Hospital in London and also at the Kaiserwerth Hospital near Dussledorf in Germany, which had
greatly influenced Florence Nightingale’s ideas.
She was
identified as ‘an outstanding graduate’ at the Nightingale School and set sail for Australia
following her appointment as Superintendent and Chief Female Officer of the Sydney Infirmary (later
called the Sydney Hospital).
Together with five
other Nightingale nurses, Ms Osburn arrived in Sydney in 1868, where she encountered appalling
conditions, and hostility from medical staff. She spent the next 12 years transforming the hospital
and training nurses in the Nightingale tradition.
Miss Osburn
left Sydney in 1884. She died on 22 December 1891.
