Olive Eva Anstey (9 August 1920 – 18 August 1983) was an Australian hospital matron.
Born at
Fremantle to sawmill benchman Terence Edwin Anstey and Eva Annie, ''née'' Donovan, Olive and her family moved to
Sydney when she was eighteen months old. She moved back to Western Australia in 1934, learning shorthand and typing at
Perth Technical College before starting work at a box factory in 1935 at the age of 15 (continuing her studies at night). She began training to be a nurse at the
Royal Perth Hospital in 1941, despite the disapproval of her family who viewed nursing as "servitude". Passing her final examinations in 1944, she won election to the local council of the Australasian Trained Nurses Association. She campaigned in 1946 for better pay and conditions before returning to Sydney to study
midwifery
Midwifery is the health science and health profession that deals with pregnancy, childbirth, and the postpartum period (including care of the newborn), in addition to the sexual and reproductive health of women throughout their lives. In many ...
, running a small private hospital from 1947. She was honorary founding secretary of the New South Wales College of Nursing in 1949 before moving to
South Australia
South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories ...
as a community health nurse.
Anstey returned to
Perth
Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth i ...
in 1953 to work at the Perth Chest Clinic, and was appointed matron of the new Perth Chest Hospital in May 1958 after studying nursing administration at the College of Nursing, Australia, in
Melbourne
Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...
. The hospital was renamed the
Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital
Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital (SCGH) is a teaching hospital in Nedlands, Western Australia.
Opened in 1958 as the Perth Chest Hospital and later named in honour of Sir Charles Gairdner, governor of Western Australia from 1951 to 1963, it is pa ...
and Anstey extended its responsibilities into community health. In 1958 she was elected councillor of the Royal Australian Nursing Federation (RANF)'s Western Australian branch, of which she would serve as president from 1962 to 1966. She was on the council of the College of Nursing, Australia, from 1964 to 1971 and federal president of the RANF from 1971 to 1975. From 1977 to 1981 she was president of the International Council of Nurses.
[
"Throughout her career Olive was a staunch advocate for better working conditions and pay for nurses, working on various committees with the
goal of obtaining recognition of nursing as a profession."]MBE Mbe may refer to:
* Mbé, a town in the Republic of the Congo
* Mbe Mountains Community Forest, in Nigeria
* Mbe language, a language of Nigeria
* Mbe' language, language of Cameroon
* ''mbe'', ISO 639 code for the extinct Molala language
Molal ...
in 1969 and was elevated to CBE in 1982. On the night of 18–19 August 1983 she died suddenly at Shoalwater and was buried in Karrakatta cemetery. She is commemorated by an accommodation block for student nurses at Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital (1974) and the Olive Anstey Nursing Fund, established shortly after her death.[
]
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Anstey, Olive
1920 births
1983 deaths
Australian women nurses
Australian nurses
Commanders of the Order of the British Empire
20th-century Australian women
Burials at Karrakatta Cemetery