Project update: School of Nursing and Midwifery

We have been developing the collections related to the School of Nursing and Midwifery in preparation for the 50th anniversary next year. This has included enhancing existing photographic records that were donated in 2021 with descriptive metadata and contextual information related to course delivery, clinical practice, international exchanges and School events, over the 50-year period that the records span.

Almost 50 years ago in 1975, 79 students enrolled in the nursing course at a diploma level. In 1976, the formal accreditation of the nursing programme at the Bachelor’s degree level was achieved. It was recognised nationally as a significant and historical milestone in Australian Nursing. However, funding for the new degree was not made available by the Commission on Advanced Education CAE for several more years.  

The change in status was also response to the changes in Australian life and society. Nursing began to expand and develop in areas such as preventative care, community health, hospital practice, in rehabilitation and the provision of nursing care across all age groups. In these early years, WAIT’s Department of Nursing developed its teaching curriculum in response to these changes.

View a selection of the images we have been working on:

Studies in midwifery was part of the school but was not introduced as an undergraduate degree in its own right until 2008.

We have now processed 5 albums of physical photographs and negatives. The next part of the project will include accessioning born-digital photographs created from about the year 2006 onwards.

A look at the history of the School. Including interviews with current and former staff and students, and a look at some of our archival records Curtin School of Nursing 50th Anniversary film