Abbott, Joan Stevenson - Bright Sparcs Biographical entry

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Abbott, Joan Stevenson (1899 - 1970)

RRC

Published Sources

Nurse and Nurse educator

Born: 11 December 1899 Normanby Hill, Queensland, Australia. Died: 27 November 1970 Corinda, Queensland, Australia.

Joan Stevenson Abbott was a nurse and midwife at hospitals in Brisbane and Canberra. She also served as a matron in the Middle East while enlisted by the Australian Army Nursing Service. As matron she was in charge of fifty-five nurses and masseuses while they served in Greece, Egypt and Palestine. She was awarded the Royal Red Cross, 1st Class for her leadership and dedication when her Gaza Ridge hospital was expanded from 600 to 1500 beds in 1942. Joan Abbott finished her full-time duty in 1946 at the high rank of lieutenant colonel. In the same year she was awarded the Florence Nightingale International Foundation Scholarship to pursue eighteen months study at the Royal College of Nursing, London. Abbott later received the prestigious Florence Nightingale Medal - the Red Cross’s highest international distinction award for the nursing - in 1957. After returning to Australia Joan Abbott continued her nursing duties, firstly as staff nurse for five years with the Commonwealth Savings Bank, then with a doctor in a private medical practice.

Career Highlights

Chronology
1920 Probationer at the Brisbane General Hospital
1924 General (nurse) certificate
c. 1924 Midewifery Certificate completed at the Lady Bowen Hospital in Wickham Terrace, Qld
c. 1925 Sate Child-Welfare Certificate completed in Queensland
1926 - 1928 Worked in baby clinics
1929 - 1937 Tutor Sister with the Brisbane and South Coast Hospitals Board
1937 Midwife at the Canberra Community Hospital, Australian National Territory (NT)
c. 1937 - c. 1940 Travelled to England
1940 - 1943 Matron with the Australian Army Nursing Service 2^nd and 6^th Australian General Hospital in Greece, Egypt and Palestine
1943 Made Lieutenant Colonel and posted to the Queensland Lines of Communication Area
1943 Royal Red Cross (RRC) received
1943 - 1946 Matron then Prinicpal Matron with the Australian Army Nursing Service in Qld
1946 Retired from army service
1946 - 1948 Florence Nightingale International Foundation Scholarship for study at the Royal College of Nursing, London
1948 Principal Matron with the Citizen Military Forces at the Northern Command headquarters
1948 - 1950s Tutor at Brisbane Hospital
1954 - 1956 President of the Australian Trained Nurses' Association, Queensland division
1955 - 1958 Member of the Queensland State Nurses and Masseurs Registration Board
1957 Florence Nightingale Medal received from the International Committee of the Red Cross
1962 Honorary Colonel in theRoyal Australian Army Nursing Corps

Structure based on ISAAR(CPF) - click here for an explanation of the fields.

Prepared by: Ailie Smith
Created: 7 March 2003
Modified: 29 January 2007

Published by The University of Melbourne eScholarship Research Centre on ASAPWeb, 1994 - 2007
Originally published 1994-1999 by Australian Science Archives Project, 1999-2006 by the Australian Science and Technology Heritage Centre
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Prepared by: Acknowledgements
Updated: 26 February 2007
http://www.asap.unimelb.edu.au/bsparcs/biogs/P004397b.htm

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