Angels of Mercy

District Nursing in South Australia 1894-1994

by Rob Linn

Royal District Nursing Society of South Australia Inc., 1993, [First Edition], [SIGNED], ISBN 0646156442, black and white photographs, photographic frontispiece, hardcover, dustjacket

Very Good Condition, Signed by Author on title page, minor edge and shelf wear, minor rubbing and bumping edges and corners, ex-library with stamp to front endpaper, presentation inscription on front flyleaf, contact covered dustjacket attached to inside front and back covers, shows minor edge and shelf wear with a little rubbing and bumping to edges and corners, sticker to front cover and spine (see photographs)

“District Nursing in South Australia was born in adversity.
The 1890s were horror years of economic depression.  In the poorer suburbs of Adelaide, the capital city of South Australia, there was enormous suffering.  Those who were sick or diseased, particularly the young or very old, inevitably died.
A group of gifted people, with links to the district nursing movement in England and encouraged by Florence Nightingale, herself, began an experimental nursing service ot those poor sections of Adelaide.  The service was so successful in transforming the lives and homes of these people that, on 1894, the District trained Nursing Society, was formally established.
Despite the difficulties of establishing and continuing a nursing service of this type, the dedicated people who founded it and the nurses who worked for it created a living memorial to charity.
through the years, South Australia’s district nurses have brought their skills and compassion to all parts of the State.  From the outback, to country towns, to suburbs, the nurses were, and are, engaged in their ‘mission of mercy’.  As technology evolved, so the nurses’ modes of transport changed from foot, to bicycle, to motor scooter, to car.  In fact, the story of district nursing in South Australia, with is ups and downs, problems and hoys, is a pattern of the history of the State.”