Starting work as a probationer or trainee nurse was never easy. For generations of probationers at the Royal Adelaide Hospital, the first day meant stepping into a world of strict rules, heavy workloads, and unfamiliar routines. The CALHN Health Museum’s oral history collection captures these moments, with nurses recalling their first impressions, early mistakes, and the lessons that stayed with them for life.
Alice Ainslie (nee Gibbs)
Alice Ainslie recalled being put straight to work:
The first day I was given the job of feeding people – I must have gone on at twelve – so I fed people as I was told.
Alice Ainslie (nee Gibbs), 1985. Alice graduated from Royal Adelaide Hospital in 1941 and then worked at Port Lincoln Hospital until her marriage in 1951.
Kathleen ‘Kate’ Brown
For Kathleen Brown, the nerves started before she even reached the hospital. Her family dropped her at the nurses’ home with a small gift:
They’d given me, as a starting encouragement gift, a little plastic radio that I could sit on my shelf, which made me feel better … I presented up to Matron’s office the next morning and was in a complete tizz, terrified.
Things didn’t get easier for her on the ward:
I was taken down to Sturt Ward as a brand new pro … And I’d never seen a male in the nude before. My father was a very conservative man. I nearly died of shock the first time I was told to go and assist one of the other nurses to wash this man.
Kathleen Brown, 1988. Kathleen graduated from the Royal Adelaide Hospital in 1950 and worked in nursing across Australia, Britain, and South Africa before returning home in 1972. In 1975 she retrained in the first community health nursing course and went on to play a key role in developing the field in South Australia.
June Cochrane
June Cochrane remembered being swept up in the system almost immediately:
Within about an hour of reporting to the hospital we were lined up in uniform, and Sister Henniker took each of us round to the respective wards. I was deposited on the door of Ritchie Ward.
June Cochrane, 1990. June graduated from Royal Adelaide Hospital in 1953, where she remained on staff. In 1961 she moved to The Queen Elizabeth Hospital where she was in charge of the School of Nursing. In 1981 she became the Executive Director of the College of Nursing.
June Cochrane is back row, first on the left.
Lynley Dohnt
The hospital dining room was a daunting start for Lynley Dohnt, who was told after arriving:
that dinner would be at one o’clock. I remember so well coming to the dining room, and just standing bewildered. Where would I sit? What was the correct thing to do?
Her first ward experience was not what she expected:
I was given a chicken wing, and told to make afternoon tea for the staff. Coming from the country, where things were plentiful, a chicken wing was so trivial. How was I going to make sandwiches cut of that?
O. Lillecrapp, ME Pettit, Schinckel and Johnson, 1924
Next for Lynley, was the reality of ward work.
While everyone else went to tea, I was left with a dying patient. It was rather tremendous, rather upsetting. However, nothing happened, no tragedy. Then one of the worst experiences was with a man with a fractured leg. I was sent to sponge him. He was out on the verandah. He wanted a bed-pan and of course they were the old type, heavy china pans. I had never given anyone a bedpan. I wasn’t even shown how. My own common sense should have told me what to do. It seemed to me that it was important that the receiving area was in the right place, but I was trying to put it in backwards! He just said: Turn it round, nurse!
Lynley Donhnt, 1984. Lynley graduated from the [Royal] Adelaide Hospital in 1926. She worked in a variety of country hospitals. In 1941 she was called up for service in the Australian Air Force, serving in Australia and the Pacific Islands. On return to civilian life, Lynley was the first ‘welfare nurse’ at the Royal Adelaide Hospital, before becoming Home Sister in charge of the nurses’ residence, where she remained until her retirement.
Edith Eadie (nee Butler)
Some first encounters were softened by encouragement. On arrival at Verco Ward, Edith Eadie was greeted by Sister Verco with both kindness and stern advice.
She put her arm around my waist and she said: ‘Now, my little lamb (she used to call us all little lambs), You are one of my girls, but I have to tell you what part you play’. She said ‘This is a very big hospital. I want you to think of it as one big piece of machinery … and you are today the most insignificant cog in this wheel. But you are just as important as the whole wheel, because if you don’t do your work properly, the wheel won’t work properly, and the whole engine won’t work properly.’ That was my guiding influence of my training … And I thought that was marvellous!
Edith Eadie (nee Butler), 1993. Edith graduated from Royal Adelaide Hospital in 1931 and was Charge Nurse for Frome and Ophthalmic wards. On declaration of war, Edith signed up and was matron of the 2/3 Australian General Hospital, serving in England and the Middle East. She was promoted to Principal Matron in 1943 and served with the Relief and Rehabilitation Service in Germany and Austria. In 1950 she married Dr Norman Eadie.
Back Row: E Sawtell, H Donaghue, RZ Huppatz, Edith Eadie (Butler), J Ashton.
Aileen Monck
For Aileen Monck, the first day was a brutal wake-up call:
I suppose I had a very idealised view of nursing like soothing fevered brows and arranging flowers and doing very nice things, but the reality was very different”. I was taken to Bice Ward, … which was a long ward, I think there about forty beds, a Nightingale type of ward … I was assigned with a junior nurse and immediately set out on a round of pressure areas of patients which, as many of them had really dreadful bedsores …. And the treatment that was used, which was methylated spirits and zinc and starch which caused a lot of pain to patients, and some of them actually screamed and were clearly in pain, I was really just quite overcome with concern for them.
Aileen Mary Monck, 1989. Aileen graduated from the Royal Adelaide Hospital in 1956. After various post interstate and overseas, Aileen returned to the Royal Adelaide Hospital in senior roles for many years, before becoming the first Director of Nursing at the Flinders Medical Centre.
In 1962, the Australian Government was asked by the United States of America to supply Surgical and Medical Services to the people of South Vietnam.
In 1967, Royal Adelaide Hospital sent a team to Bien Hoa.
Melinda Yelland
Not every start was on the wards. Melinda Yelland began in PTS or study block rather than the hospital itself:
I remember mum and dad just dropping me off … sitting there thinking ‘what am I doing?’ We didn’t need uniforms, because we were starting study for six weeks. The ward work was happening later … on the Monday I made my way to where we were going in the study block and just remember looking around and it felt like school.
Melinda Yelland, 1998. Melinda was among the last student nurses to graduate from the training school at the Royal Adelaide Hospital in 1993
Jean Wilson
For Jean Wilson, the experience began with the issue of uniforms:
I got a letter saying I had to pick up my uniforms on a certain date” … It was quite exciting, you know, coming to get my uniforms … you just tried on whatever fitted you and then issued seven I think, and a cape. We were given a cape, which I quite liked actually, but when I started nursing no one wore them. They laughed at you if you wore it.
Jean Anne Wilson, 1998. Jean was among the last student nurses to graduate from the training school at the Royal Adelaide Hospital in 1993.
These extracts that come from the CALHN Health Museum oral history collection, and while not every nurse interviewed spoke about their very first day, it was a recurring theme that obviously left a lasting impression on them.
Written by Margot Way, CALHN Health Museum
