Doris Bardsley - Infinite Women

Born: 9 April 1895, United Kingdom
Died: 21 January 1968
Country most active: Australia
Also known as: NA

This biography has been shared from The Encyclopedia of Australian Science and Innovation, published by the Centre for Transformative Innovation, Swinburne University of Technology, under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

Doris Bardsley was a nurse and midwife who worked for nearly 40 years in the Queensland public service. She spent 12 years as the sister-in-charge of all Queensland Government Baby Clinics (1925-1937) during which time she greatly expanded the number of operating clinics which in turn promoted the growth of child-welfare and mothercraft education services in the state. She was a strong advocate of ongoing education, both for mothers and for nurses and in the position of Superintendent of infant-welfare nurses (QLD Maternal and Child Welfare Service) she instigated numerous educational programs available through correspondence and secondary school as well as being a foundation member of the College of Nursing, Australia (1948). She went on to become vice-president, president and eventually a Fellow of the College. From 1953 until her retirement in 1961, Bardsley served as adviser-in-nursing to Queensland’s Department of Health and Home Affairs.

Chronology
1920
Education – Training to register as general nurse, Diamantina Hospital for Chronic Diseases
c. 1921
Education – Midwifery certificate at (Royal) Women’s Hospital, Melbourne
1922 – 1923
Career position – Matron, St Denis’s Hospital, Toowoomba, Queensland
1923 – 1924
Career position – Head of the Maternal and Child Welfare Training Centre, Fortitude Valley
1925 – c. 1937
Career position – Sister-in-charge of Queensland Government Baby Clinics
1926 – 1957
Career position – Councillor of the Queensland branch of the Australasian Trained Nurses’
1937 – 1939
Career position – Acting-superintendent of infant-welfare nurses, Queensland Maternal and Child Welfare service
1939 – ?
Career position – Superintendent of infant-welfare nurses, Queensland Maternal and Child Welfare service
1949 – 1953
Career position – State President of the Queensland branch of the Australasian Trained Nurses’
1951 – 1956
Career position – National President of the Royal Australian Nursing Federation
1953 – 1961
Career position – Adviser-in-nursing to Queensland’s Department of Health and Home Affairs
1962
Award – Elected a Fellow, College of Nurses, Australia