Slater, Patricia Violet (Pat) (1918 - 1990)

She travelled and worked in the UK and Europe from 1952 to 1955, returning to Australia in 1955 to take up her first teaching appointment at the Royal Melbourne Hospital, District School of Nursing. She completed a Diploma in Nurse Education, with the aid of a Florence Nightingale Scholarship, the first of many post basic qualifications she was to gain.

Assisted by a Centaur Scholarship, Pat studied at the University of Washington, USA, in 1959, gaining a BSc (Nursing). At 43 years of age she acquired her Master of Arts degree in 1961, also from the University of Washington. This was followed a study tour of nursing education facilities in Canada, USA, UK and Scandinavia, assisted by a Rockerfeller scholarship.

From 1961-1965 Pat was a consultant for the Florence Nightingale Committee and the Victorian Nursing Council, working on issues related to the future of nurse education in Australia. At the same time she was a part time, later full time, lecturer in the College of Nursing, Australia's post basic education program. She was appointed director of the College in 1965 and oversaw the development of the new College building that replaced the mansion on the site of 431 St Kilda Road, Melbourne. The new building was opened in 1970 and was later sold when the College moved to the ACT in 1994.

In the position of director of the College, Pat was well placed to bring about the changes in education that she saw as essential for the future of the nursing profession. In 1974 she implemented the first undergraduate college-based nursing course in Australia, ten years before it became government policy to move all undergraduate nurse education to the tertiary sector. She is recognised for her pioneering efforts in the transformation of nurse preparation. This was achieved by refocusing nurse education on the sound educational principles that were lacking in the traditional service/apprenticeship style of training that had existed in Australia for over a century. Her citation for honorary fellowship of the Royal College of Nursing, Australia, sums up the qualities characteristic of her leadership. Patricia Violet Slater has had a profound and lasting influence in the qualitative improvement of nursing education in Australia. Her enthusiasm, vision, tenacity of purpose, courage and insight ensure her place amongst the distinguished nurses of Australia.

Pat Slater retired in 1983 and turned her attention to ethics, writing a number of papers before her untimely death, in August 1990. A mark of the high regard in which she was held by many, especially in education matters, was the renaming of Arthur Street, the street in which the College stood, to Slater Street in March 1984.

Chronology

1937 - 1941	General Nursing Certificate completed at the Royal Children’s Hospital and Alfred Hospital, Victoria
1941 - 1942	Midwifery Certificate completed at the Royal Women’s Hospital, Melbourne
1943 - 1947	Served in the Australian Army Nursing Serving in Australia and Borneo
1947	Infant Welfare Certificate completed at the Karitane Home for Mothers and Babies, Sydney
1947 - 1952	General work in Western Australia, Northern Territory, Queeensland and Victoria in variety of roles including charge positions
1952 - 1954	General and midwifery nursing in London
1955	Nurse Educator at Royal Melbourne Hospital District School of Nursing
1956	Florence Nightingale Committee Scholarship received
1956	Diploma in Nurse Education completed at the College of Nursing, Australia
1957 - 1959	Nurse Educator at Royal Melbourne Hospital District School of Nursing
1959	Bachelor of Science (BSc) in Nursing completed at the University of Washington
1959	Travelled to the USA
1959 - 1961	Centaur War Nurses Memorial Scholar
1960	Fellow of the Royal College of Nursing, Australia
1961	Master of Arts (MA) thesis title “A study of the growth of hospitals and the development of the nursing profession in the changing society of colonial Australia 1788-1901.” completed and graduated sumna cum laude
1961	Member of the Sigma Theat Tau Nursing Honour Society, USA
1961 - 1962	Undertook a study tour of Canada, USA, UK and Scandinavia
1961 - 1962	Rockerfellow scholarship received
1962	Consultant for Florence Nightingale Centenary Fund Trustees to study and present a report on nursing education in Victoria
1962	Curriculum Development Officer of the Victorian Nursing Council
1963	Lecturer (part-time, then full-time) at the College of Nursing, Australia
1965 - 1977	Director of College of Nursing Australia
1970	Opened new college building on the site in Arthur Street (later Slater Street), Melbourne
1974	Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) for services to nurse education
1974	World Health Organisation workshop on the Education of Teachers of Nursing and midwifery in the Phillipines
1974	Implemented the first undergraduate college based nursing education program at College of Nursing, Australia
1977	Fellow of the New South Wales College of Nursing
1977	Fellow of the Australian College of Education (for distinguished services to nursing education)
1977	Visiting Lecturer and study program at the School of Nursing at the University of California, USA
1977 - 1981	Honorary Director of College of Nursing in Australia
1977 - 1983	College of Nursing, Australia merges with Lincoln Institute of Health Sciences as a College of Advanced Education. Appointed head of the School of Nursing at the LIHS, in what was to become the School of Nursing at La Trobe University
1982	Honorary Fellowship of the Royal College of Nursing, Australia
1983	Retired
1983	Begins writing the history of the Royal College of Nursing. Australia and writes in bioethics
1984	Secondment to Victorian Post Secondary Education Committee to prepare advice on future arrangements for the transfer of nursing education to institutes of higher education in Victoria
1984 - 1985	Consultant to the Darwin Institute of Technology to advise on nursing courses for the Northern Territory
1985	ANZAAS Award for Achievement in Medical Education received (Australian and New Zealand Association for the Advancement of Science)
1985	Consultant in Education Administration to the Faculty of Nursing at Prince Songkla University in Thailand under the sponsorship of the Australian Universities International Development Program
1985	Consultant to the Darwin Instititute of Technology to advise on the development of a Diploma in Applied Science Nursing course
1986	Consultant with the South Australian Health Commission to review specialised nursing services in South Australia
1987	Consultant to Victorian Post Secondary Education Commission to negotiate with the College of Nursing, Australia concerning the content of the building at 2 Slater Street in Melbourne
1987	Consultant to the Australian Capital Territory Health Commission to review Community Health Nursing Services
1988	Consultant to Gippsland Institute of Advanced Education to develop a Diploma in Applied Science Nursing course to be implemented at Wodonga and Dookie