A strong advocate for tertiary based nurse education, Miss Parkes made a significant contribution over a twenty year period in seeking and finally achieving the changes that took place in the educational preparation of nurses. These were introduced, Australia wide, in the 1990s.
She held senior and leadership positions during times of great upheaval and change in education. Miss Parkes had had extensive experience in clinical nursing, teaching and administration of schools of nursing within the hospital and higher education systems. She was renowned for assisting those around her to keep perspective and balance. This, combined with her extensive experience in nursing educational matters and practicalities, made her one of the architects of the new, tertiary education system for nurses in Australia.
| 1945 - 1949 | General nurse training at the Ryde District Hospital, Sydney |
| 1949 - 1950 | Midwifery training at the Women’s Hospital in Crown Street Sydney |
| 1950 | Infant Welfare Certificate completed at the Royal Society for the Welfare of Mothers and Babies |
| 1951 - 1953 | Junior sister in the private wing with medical and surgical patients for three years. Sister in charge of medical ward for two years |
| 1954 - 1956 | Spent a short period teaching with one PTS group and one year as second sister-in-charge of the Central Sterilising Department |
| 1954 - 1956 | Employed at Royal North Shore Hospital in Sydney for two and a half years, gaining experience in several departments, including medical/surgical/orthopaedic and children’s nursing |
| 1954 - 1990 | Member of the Australian Nursing Federation |
| 1955 | Florence Nightingale Scholarship (National Award ) received to provide two years study at the Royal College of Nursing London and qualify for the Sister Tutors Diploma from the University of London |
| 1956 - 1958 | Florence Nightingale Memorial Committee Scholarship to study in England at the Royal College of Nursing, London |
| 1958 | Completed the Sister Tutor Diploma at University of London (awarded August 1958) |
| 1958 | Florence Nightingale International Foundation travel grant received for study tour in Scandinavia |
| 1958 | Ten week study tour to study nursing education in Scandinavia, including content of curricula, methods of teaching and clinical experience in independent schools of nursing supported by the Florence Nightingale International Foundation |
| 1958 - 1959 | Surgical Instructor at the Atkinson School of Nursing at Western Hospital, Toronto in Canada - one year appointment to August 1959 |
| 1959 | Rockefeller grant to undertake a study tour of nursing degree programs offered by selected schools of nursing in the USA. Specifically to study content, organisation and implementation of nursing degree programs. Sixteen schools were visited |
| 1959 | Rockefeller grant received for study tour in the USA |
| 1960 - | Fellow of the New South Wales College of Nursing (now the College of Nursing) |
| 1960 - 1961 | Tutor in Charge of the School of Nursing at St George’s Hospital in Kogorah, New South Wales |
| 1961 - | Fellow of the Royal College of Nursing, Australia |
| 1962 - 1970 | Principal Nurse Educator School of Nursing at the Royal Perth Hospital, Western Australia |
| 1962 - 1983 | Member of the Education Committee for the Nurses Registration Board of Western Australia |
| 1964 - 1967 | Member of the working committee appointed by the nurse registration board of Western Australia to revise curricula in Western Australia |
| 1970 - | Member of the Australian Federation of University Women (AFUW) |
| 1970 - 1973 | Principal of the Western Australian Branch of College of Nursing, Australia |
| 1971 - 1983 | Member of the Australian College of Education (MACE) |
| 1973 - 1990 | Councillor of the Royal College of Nursing, Australia |
| 1974 - 1976 | Member of a working party set up by the nurses board of Western Australia to investigate the future needs of nursing education in Western Australia |
| 1974 - 1976 | Member of a national working party consisting of representatives from national nursing organisations to develop a statement and strategies for action on the introduction of change in nursing education in Australia |
| 1974 - 1983 | Inaugural Head of the Department of Nursing within the School of Health Sciences at Western Australian Institute of Technology |
| 1974? - 1983? | Study tour to four institutions offering nursing degree programs in the UK and Canada. To compare undergraduate nursing programs in the UK and North America with the program planned for introduction in Western Australia |
| 1976 - 1978 | Carreid out a study of staffing patterns used in Australian hospitals for the provision of nursing care |
| 1976 - 1979 | Member of the Council of the Royal Australian Nursing Federation, Western Australia branch |
| 1977 - 1980 | Contact person and State convenor of task force responsible for advising the National Steering Committee on priorities for implementing the Goals in Nursing Education |
| 1977 - 1988 | Appointed to the panel of overseas advisors for the original editorial board for the Journal of Advanced Nursing, published by Blackwell Scientific Publications, UK |
| 1978 - 1984 | Advisor to the National Steering Committee established to set targets for implementing the goals in nursing education policy statements |
| 1978 - 1988 | Member of the Censors Board at the Royal College of Nursing, Australia |
| 1980 | Consultant to the Tasmanian College of Advanced Education for a study to determine the availability of appropriate educational resources in the tertiary sector for the conduct of undergraduate educational programs |
| 1980 - 1981 | President of the Royal College of Nursing, Australia |
| 1981 | Visiting Research Fellow at Nursing Education Research Unit at Chelsea College, University of London |
| 1981 | Fellowship of the Australian College of Education (FACE) awarded in recognition of an outstanding contribution to an area of specialised education |
| 1981 - 1993 | Member of the international editorial board for the International Journal of Nursing Studies, published by Pergamon Press Ltd., UK. |
| 1982 | An analysis of the work of qualified midwives in Western Australia |
| 1982 | Member of the Order of Australia (AM) in recognition of a significant contribution to nursing education |
| 1983 | Head of the School of Nursing at the Tasmanian Institute of Technology |
| 1983 - 1990 | Head of the School of Nursing Studies at the Tasmania State Institute of Technology, later University of Tasmania |
| 1983 - 1991 | Member of the editorial board for the Journal of Advanced Nursing published by Royal Australian Nursing Federation (now Australian Nursing Federation) in Melbourne |
| 1985 - 1988 | Member of the Editorial Committee of the College of Nursing, Australia (now Royal College of Nursing, Australia) |
| 1986 | Seconded to the Department of Nursing at Massey University New Zealand for four weeks, to study resources used for teaching on behalf of the Committee |
| 1988 - 1992 | Member of the Nurses' Board of Tasmania |
| 1989 | Member of the Australian Education Council’s working party on nurse education set up to provide advice to e ministers and the National Board of Employment and Education and Training on the length of courses and appropriate entry level |
| 1989 - 1992 | National President of the Florence Nightingale Committee of Australia |
| 1990 | Consultant to the Tasmanian State Institute of Technology to investigate nursing programs in North America leading to a Masters degree by research and to develop Stage 1 of a proposal for the introduction of a Masters degree in Health Science |
| 1990 - 1991 | Consultant to Victoria College (School of Nursing in Burwood, Victoria), to develop a proposal for a Bachelor of Nursing (degree) course incorporating a competency based model |
| 1991 | Ministerial appointment to the Launceston District Health Forum established to assess consumer input to health service delivery and needs |
| 1992 | Consultant to the Royal College of Nursing, Australia to review administrative structures and to improve services to members |
| 1996 | Consultant to University of Western Sydney (Nepean) Faculty of Nursing and Health Sciences, to review and evaluate course accreditation documents for Bachelor of Nursing degree program |
| 1997 | Distinguished Life Fellow Award Royal College of Nursing, Australia. |
