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Australasian Trained Nurses' Association (1899 - )

From
1899
Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Occupations
Trade Union

Summary

The Australasian Trained Nurses' Association (ATNA), Australia's first nursing association, was formed in New South Wales in 1899, with branches subsequently established in Queensland in 1904, South Australia in 1905, Western Australia in 1907 and Tasmania in 1908. It sought to improve the status of nurses through registration and to develop standards of training in hospital schools of nursing. The Association commenced publication of its journal entitled Australasian Nurses' Journal, (ANJ) in 1904. The state branches eventually came to form branches of the Australian Nursing Federation, which was established in 1924.

Details

The specific objects of the Australasian Trained Nurses' Association were:
1. To promote the interests of trained nurses in all matters affecting their work as a class.
2. To establish a system of registration for trained nurses.
3. To afford opportunities for discussing subjects bearing on the work of nursing.
4. To initiate and control schemes that will provide nurses with an allowance 'during incapacity for work caused by sickness, accident, age or other necessitous circumstances'.

The Association began in the larger training hospitals on the initiative of senior medical practitioners and nurses. It comprised an annually elected Council of seventeen members, including five qualified medical practitioners, five matrons or superintendents of nurses, five sisters and nurses, with two honorary members.

Sources used to compile this entry: Smith, Russell G, In pursuit of nursing excellence: a history of the Royal College of Nursing, Australia 1949-99, Oxford University Press, Melbourne, 1999, 390 pp; Strachan, Glenda, Labour of love: the history of the Nurses' Association in Queensland, 1860-1950, Allen & Unwin, Sydney, 1996, 291 pp.

Related entries

Foundation member

Archival resources

Mitchell and Dixson Libraries Manuscripts Collection, State Library of New South Wales

  • Australasian Trained Nurses' Association - Records, 1899-1976, 1899 - 1976, MLMSS 4144; Australasian Trained Nurses' Association (1899 - ); Mitchell and Dixson Libraries Manuscripts Collection, State Library of New South Wales. Details

Published resources

Online Resources

See also

  • Smith, Russell G, In pursuit of nursing excellence: a history of the Royal College of Nursing, Australia 1949-99, Oxford University Press, Melbourne, 1999, 390 pp. Details
  • Strachan, Glenda, Labour of love: the history of the Nurses' Association in Queensland, 1860-1950, Allen & Unwin, Sydney, 1996, 291 pp. Details

Rosemary Francis and Carolyne Carter

Created: 27 May 2004, Last modified: 4 May 2009

Site-wide information and acknowledgements

National Foundation for Australian Women The University of Melbourne, eScholarship Research Centre

http://www.womenaustralia.info/biogs/AWE0973b.htm