McCready, Georgina (1888 - 1980)

Summary

Georgina McCready was appointed as one of the first Supervisory Sisters in the New South Wales Department of Health in 1929, under the Public Health Act (1929). A founding member of the New South Wales Nurses Association (NSWNA) in 1931, she was its first Honorary Secretary and the first woman to hold such a position in an industrial organisation in Australia. McCready was one of four founders of the New South Wales College of Nursing (NSWCN) in 1949. The McCready Scholarship (tenable NSWCN) was established in 1954 by NSWNA in her honour. She was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) on 8 June 1963, for services to nursing.

Details

Georgina McCready (née Johnstone) was born 17 December 1888 in Greenock, Renfrewshire, Scotland. She married Samuel McCready (died 1940) on 25 January 1932 at St Stephen's Presbyterian Church, Sydney City, and died 16 September 1980 in Leichhardt, Sydney, New South Wales. She received her General Nursing Certificate from Eastern District Hospital, Glasgow, Scotland in 1912. She visited Australia with her father in 1913 and in 1914 the Johnstone family moved to Sydney. In 1914 she registered with the Australasian Trained Nurses Association, completing her Midwifery Certificate at the Women's Hospital, Crown Street, Sydney in 1922 and her Mothercraft Certificate at the Tresillian Centre, Petersham, New South Wales in 1928. She was appointed as one of the first Supervisory Sisters in the New South Wales Department of Health in 1929, under the Public Health Act (1929). A founding member of the New South Wales Nurses Association (NSWNA), 27 February 1931, she was its first Honorary Secretary and the first woman to hold such a position in an industrial organisation in Australia. McCready held this post again in 1935 and from 1941 to 1945, becoming Assistant General Secretary, 1946-1953.

McCready was one of four founders of the New South Wales College of Nursing (NSWCN) in 1949, and held the post of President of the Provisional Council from 12 January 1949 to 31 January 1950 (called Honorary Chairman to 19 May 1949). She was recognised as a Founder and invested as Foundation Fellow, 18 September 1952. She was one of the first two people to become Life Members of New South Wales Nurses Association (NSWNA), 1953. The McCready Scholarship (tenable at NSWCN) was established in 1954 by NSWNA in her honour. She was awarded the MBE, 8 June 1963, for services to nursing.

Chronology

1913

Private nursing home in Bedford, UK

1913 - 1915

Head Nurse at Renwick Children's Hospital in Summer Hill, New South Wales

1915 - 1916

Deputy Matron of St George District Hospital in Kogarah, New South Wales

1917 - 1918

Private hospital in Kogarah

1919 - 1923

Sister and Matron at the Cessnock Hospital, New South Wales

1923 - 1926

Matron at Maitland Hospital, New South Wales

1926 - July 1928

Matron at Broken Hill Hospital, New South Wales

July 1928 - March 1932

Baby Health Centres and Supervisory Sister with the Department of Health in New South Wales

1932 - 1943

Honorary Secretary, New South Wales Nurses Association (NSWNA)

1943 - 1945

Salaried officer at NSWNA

1946 - 1953

Assistant General Secretary in NSWNA

1953 - 1960

Worked at NSWNA (part-time)

1963

Award - Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE)

Archival resources

The Noel Butlin Archives Centre, ANU Archives Program

• Papers, New South Wales Nurses Association, 1933 - 1987, A3 Z142; The Noel Butlin Archives Centre, ANU Archives Program. Details

Published resources

Encyclopedia of Australian Science and Innovation Exhibitions

• McCarthy, Gavan; Morgan, Helen; Smith, Ailie; van den Bosch, Alan, Where are the Women in Australian Science?, Exhibition of the Encyclopedia of Australian Science and Innovation, First published 2003 with lists updated regulary edn, Australian Science and Technology Heritage Centre, Melbourne, Victoria, 2003, https://eoas.info/exhibitions/wisa/wisa.html. Details

Book Sections

• Woolston, Hazel, 'McCready, Georgina (1888-1980), nurse, trade unionist and administrator' in Australian dictionary of biography, volume 15: 1940 - 1980 Kem-Pie, John Ritchie, ed. (Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, 2000), p. 182. http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/biogs/A150219b.htm. Details

Resources

• 'McCready, Georgina (1888-1980)', Trove, National Library of Australia, 2009, https://nla.gov.au/nla.party-754079. Details

Resource Sections

• 'McCready, Georgina (1888-1980), Biographical Entry', in Australian Women's Archives Project, National Foundation for Australian Women, 2002, http://www.womenaustralia.info/biogs/IMP0111b.htm. Details

See also

• Dickenson, Mary, An Unsentimental Union: the NSW Nurses Association, 1931-1992 (Sydney: Hale and Iremonger, 1993), 352 pp. Details