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Burchill, Dora (Elizabeth) (1904 - 2003)

OAM, BA, MA, Blitt, RN, RM, IWC, Hon. DNursing
Related EntriesArchival/Heritage ResourcesPublished Resources
Nurse, Author and Historian
Born: 4 January 1904  Hawthorn, Victoria, Australia.  Died: 3 December 2003.

The daughter of Alholstane Chase and Rosina (née Sherrin), Elizabeth Burchill completed her education at the Camberwell State School and the Ladies Business College, Melbourne, as well as at Melbourne and Monash Universities.

Before World War II Burchill worked at the Australian Inland Mission, Innamincka, Labrador, Grenfell Mission, and was a member of the British Ambulance Unit, caring for refugee children during the Spanish Civil War. She enlisted in the Australian Army Nursing Service on 21 December 1939 and was one of the first nurses from Victoria to go to the Middle East with the 2nd Australian Imperial Force in 1940. After the war she combined nursing with writing - particularly about the area in which she had nursed. Her publications include Australian Nurses since Nightingale: 1860-1990, a largely biographical history published in 1992.

On 8 June 1998, Sister Elizabeth Burchill was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) for service to nursing, particularly as an historian, author and philanthropist. Also she has won the Jessie Lichfield Annual Award and the Veterans' Affairs Writers Award.


Career Highlights

Chronology
1929

Certificates in General Nursing from the Prince Henry Hospital, Melbourne

1930

Certificate in Midwifery from the Royal Women's Hospital, Melbourne

1930 - 1932

Nursing at the Australian Inland Mission, Innamincka

1933

Certificate in Infant Welfare from the Tweddle Baby Hospital, Melbourne

1937

Member of the British Ambulance Unit, caring for refugee children during the Spanish Civil War

1938

Nursing at Labrador

1938

Postgraduate study, diseases of the chest, from the Brompton Hospital, London

1940 - 1946

Captain for the Australian Army Nursing Service, 2nd AIF

1946

Publication Labrador memories

1946 - 1947

Chief woman announcer at 3SR Radio, Shepparton, Victoria

1952 - 1956

Charge sister and nursing sister for the Department of Health, Darwin, Northern Territory

1958 - 1960

Nursing at Thursday Island

1960

Publication Innamincka

1961 - 1963

Nursing in New Guinea

1965 - 1967

Nursing in Europe

1969 - 1971

Nursing in United States of America and Canada

1970

Publication New Guinea Nurse

1972 - 1976

Member, Fellowship of Australian Writers

1972 - 1977

Foundation member of the Maroondah Singers

1974

Publication Thursday Island Nurse

1975

Winner Short Story Award from the Army Repatriation Project

1981

Publication The Paths I've trod

1981

Bachelor Arts from Monash University

1992

Publication Australian nurses since Nightingale: 1860-1990

 
Sources used to compile this entry: Who's Who of Australian Women, p. 92 and Who's Who in Australia 2003, p. 351.
 
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Published Resources

Books

  • Burchill, Elizabeth, Innamincka, Hodder and Stoughton, Melbourne, 1960, 176 pp. [ Details... ]
  • Burchill, Elizabeth, Thursday Island nurse, Rigby, Adelaide, 1972, 139 pp. [ Details... ]
  • Burchill, Elizabeth, The paths I've trod, Spectrum, Melbourne, 1981, 250 pp. [ Details... ]
  • Burchill, Elizabeth, Australian nurses since Nightingale 1860-1990, Spectrum Publications Pty Ltd, Richmond (Vic.), 1992, 258 pp. [ Details... ]
  • Burchill, Elizabeth, 1908-2003, Thursday Island nurse, Rigby, Adelaide, 1972, 139 pp. [ Details... ]

Newspaper Articles

  • Hudson, Susan, 'A dedicated nurse who practised around the world', Age, Obituaries, 26 January 2004, p. 4. [ Details... ]

Online Resources

See also

  • Australian Science and Technology Heritage Centre, 'Where are the Women in Australian science?', Australian Science and Technology Heritage Centre, 22 August 2003, http://www.austehc.unimelb.edu.au/wisa/wisa.html. [ Details... ]
  • De Micheli, Catherine and Herd, Margaret (eds), Who's who in Australia 2003, 39 edn, Crown Content, North Melbourne, 2003, 2201 pp. [ Details... ]
  • Lofthouse, Andrea (ed.), Who's who of Australian women, Methuen Australia, North Ryde (NSW), 1982, 504 pp. [ Details... ]

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Structure based on ISAAR(CPF) - click here for an explanation of the fields.Prepared by: Anne Heywood
Created: 26 February 2003
Modified: 13 December 2005

Published by National Foundation for Australian Women on Australian Women's Archives Project Web Site
Comments, questions, corrections and additions: awap@womenaustralia.info
Prepared by: Acknowledgements
Updated: 16 June 2006
http://www.womenaustralia.info/biogs/AWE0448b.htm

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