Biographical entry Abbott, Joan Stevenson (1899 - 1970)

Summary

Joan 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.

Details

Events

1920

Career position - Probationer at the Brisbane General Hospital

1924

Education - General (nurse) certificate

c. 1924

Education - Midwifery Certificate completed at the Lady Bowen Hospital in Wickham Terrace, Qld

c. 1925

Education - Sate Child-Welfare Certificate completed in Queensland

1926 - 1928

Career position - Worked in baby clinics

1929 - 1937

Career position - Tutor Sister with the Brisbane and South Coast Hospitals Board

1937

Career position - Midwife at the Canberra Community Hospital, Australian National Territory (NT)

c. 1937 - c. 1940

Career position - Travelled to England

August 1940 - August 1943

Career position - Matron with the Australian Army Nursing Service 2nd and 6th Australian General Hospital in Greece, Egypt and Palestine

1943

Award - Royal Red Cross (RRC) received

12 April 1943

Career position - Made Lieutenant Colonel and posted to the Queensland Lines of Communication Area

December 1943 - 1946

Career position - Matron then Principal Matron with the Australian Army Nursing Service in Qld

1946

Career position - Retired from army service

1946 - 1948

Career position - Florence Nightingale International Foundation Scholarship for study at the Royal College of Nursing, London

1948

Career position - Principal Matron with the Citizen Military Forces at the Northern Command headquarters

1948 - 1950s

Career position - Tutor at Brisbane Hospital

1954 - 1956

Career position - President of the Australian Trained Nurses' Association, Queensland division

1955 - 1958

Career position - Member of the Queensland State Nurses and Masseurs Registration Board

1957

Award - Florence Nightingale Medal received from the International Committee of the Red Cross

1962

Career position - Honorary Colonel in the Royal Australian Army Nursing Corps

Published resources

Book Sections

• Fulloon, Gillian, 'Abbott, Joan Stevenson (1899-1975), Nursing Sister and Army Matron', in John Ritchie (ed.), Australian Dictionary of Biography, vol. 13, Melbourne University Press, Melbourne, 1993, pp. 3-4. Also available at http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/biogs/A130003b.htm. Details

Online Resources

• National Library of Australia, 'Abbott, Joan Stevenson', Trove, National Library of Australia and the Australian National Maritime Museum Darling Harbour, 2009, http://nla.gov.au/nla.party-762091. Details

See also

• Alexander, John A. (ed.), Who's Who in Australia 1944, vol. 12, The Herald and Weekly Times Ltd, Melbourne, 1944, 906 pp. Details