Birthday celebrations for pioneer Bourke Nurse
- thewesternherald
- 9 minutes ago
- 1 min read
Story: Tricia Duffield; Photos: Ian Cole
One of Bourke’s most outstanding citizens celebrated her 98th birthday last Friday.
Gwen Davis was one of the pioneers of Bourke’s modern health service and was Matron at the Bourke District Hospital for many years.
Over the course of her long career, she tended to those in our community who were sick or injured, encouraged new and visiting health professionals, improved the care and facilities at the hospital, eased the pain and suffering of sick and dying patients and welcomed new babies into the community.
As matron, she saw it all. Her contribution to the health and wellbeing of generations of Bourke families is impossible to measure.
Gwen was the second youngest of seven girls and grew up on a dairy farm near Macksville and Bowraville on the mid-north coast.
She recounts a way of life that is all but lost today – of milking cows on the family farm before heading off to school on horseback each morning, nine kilometres one way to school, and nine kilometres home at the end of the day.
“I’m sure our mother was worried about us as we set off on horseback to school, but she never mentioned it,” Gwen said.
From an early age Gwen harboured ambitions to become a nurse and was planning to travel to England for further study – but never made it. […]
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