At age 18, in 1976, I started training as a registered nurse at Concord and graduated as a Registered Nurse by age 21. I think our training group was 119 but might be wrong.
There were, I think, 20ish ramp wards at the time: medical, respiratory, renal dialysis and psychiatric; other ramp wards had been changed into physiotherapy wards. I worked in the renal ward at the time of the Granville train accident and nursed a young girl who had been in the accident and required renal dialysis. I would have liked to have known how she progressed.
The main buildings were the more critical wards. While I worked there it became Repatriation General Hospital. The hospital’s Emergency & Accident was opened in 1976. A very modern burns section was added in 1977.
The Ramp Wards
We went to Camperdown Children’s Hospital for Paediatric training. We had no children’s wards at Concord.
The main building was built in a T-shape; the stairs and lifts in the centre and 3 wards going off three ways – Level 1 to 6. wards 110. 120, 130 and so forth – to level 6. wards 610, 620, 630. Each ward either male or female. No mixing. I still find the mixed wards difficult to accept.
We had plenty of staff, plenty of resources. We worked hard, but there was always backup when required. And we were very well trained. I loved my training and couldn’t believe how archaic Wollongong hospital felt when I moved to Wollongong.
The CCU and Step Down all had modern equipment, having been a repatriation hospital for returned vets. That was in the days when they were respected. It disgusts me today to see how badly vets are treated.
I followed by doing Midwifery, then had three children and worked here and there in between. I did a post grad degree in education and managed to end up working as Clinical Finance Manager in the Illawarra Area Health. Later worked for a stint at Wollongong Uni and then running the AIN courses. The last 10 years I worked with Sanofi in their Cardiac and then Diabetes.
I have been retired now for 4 years with four grandchildren, two boys and two girls aged 9, 8, 8 and 7. Yet still Concord holds fond memories.
I often wonder if there is a reunion committee, it would be great to catch up. I remember running into Greg Keen running a children’s ward in Haematology years later, and Julie Lancôme (Gray) moved to Wollongong and we caught up for what are now “play dates” for our kids.
And, for now, retired and travelling – China, Russia, UK, Greece, Italy, France, Slovenia and Germany. We hope, next year, to travel to Spain and Morocco. Hopefully when the world is a bit healthier.
Cabarita Point was first named in the 1856 Survey Map. At the time there was a property known as “Cabarita House” near Kendall Bay. It is not clear whether the location took its name from the house or if the house was named for its location. Cabarita is presumed to have derived from a local…
The boat shed at the bottom of Hilly Street, looking towards Green Point, taken from the top of Montgomery’s Palace Hotel c1920s. The Mortlake-Putney Punt now crosses the Parramatta River from this spot. Nearby is a small beach, known as Fairmile Cove, where naval boats were assembled during World War II. In the middle distance…
This special Memorial in Concord West has taken a powerful step forward in its ultimate goal of attaining recognition as a Military Memorial of National Significance. Federal, State and Local governments are currently collaborating to deliver a business case securing the site’s future and acknowledging its unique place among military commemoration sites. The Kokoda Track…
What do bloomers and bicycles have in common? While today’s models parade the catwalk in panties and other underwear, this would have been unthinkable in the 1800s. So too would the wearing of panties themselves. Today’s panties originated from the various “bifurcated” undergarments known popularly in the 19th century as bloomers, knickers, drawers, pantaloons and…
Public Transport: These days, we hop on a train, or a bus…we don’t think much of it. But public transport was very different back in the eras when our grandparents and great-grandparents were alive. In the early 1900s, buses as we know them today did not exist. Trains were steam-powered or powered by electricity. Electrically-powered…
Industries of Mortlake – Cabarita Australian Gas Light Company Concord’s most significant industrial complex was also one of its earliest. The Australian Gas Light Company was established in Sydney in 1837, only twenty-five years after the world’s first gas company had been formed in Britain. In the 1830’s the city of Sydney was lit by…
One Comment
At age 17 I started my nurses training at Concord Repat in 1977 group 126. I remember it too as a great hospital to work at and being left in charge of a ward with two other student nurses for 30 patients. We were trained so we knew how to manage any emergency at the ripe age of 18 and that training has stayed with me throughout my career.
I also worked in the renal ward 2 and the dialysis ward 1 in 1980-81 before going off to Sydney hospital to undertake the renal transplant course. Fond memories indeed.
At age 17 I started my nurses training at Concord Repat in 1977 group 126. I remember it too as a great hospital to work at and being left in charge of a ward with two other student nurses for 30 patients. We were trained so we knew how to manage any emergency at the ripe age of 18 and that training has stayed with me throughout my career.
I also worked in the renal ward 2 and the dialysis ward 1 in 1980-81 before going off to Sydney hospital to undertake the renal transplant course. Fond memories indeed.