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by Karen Carson
In 1883, District Nurse Sarah Elizabeth Wane sailed from London to Tasmania and an unknown future. A Bradford surgeon’s daughter, orphaned at twenty and widowed at twenty-two, she trained at London’s Westminster Hospital to enter one of the few careers with prospects for middle class women. Beginning as a Head Nurse at the Hobart General Hospital, she rose quickly in her profession to become Lady Superintendent of the Launceston General Hospital in 1884.
Educated and sociable, she engaged with the best of society in Launceston and Hobart. Known for her ability and discretion, she earned the respect of colleagues and the gratitude of the Government.
She nursed through Tasmania’s gruelling typhoid epidemics of 1885-87 and retired from the LGH due to ill health in 1886. She, like her mother, contracted tuberculosis, which led to her death in 1890 at the tragically early age of thirty-four.
by Karen Carson
In 1883, District Nurse Sarah Elizabeth Wane sailed from London to Tasmania and an unknown future. A Bradford surgeon’s daughter, orphaned at twenty and widowed at twenty-two, she trained at London’s Westminster Hospital to enter one of the few careers with prospects for middle class women. Beginning as a Head Nurse at the Hobart General Hospital, she rose quickly in her profession to become Lady Superintendent of the Launceston General Hospital in 1884.
Educated and sociable, she engaged with the best of society in Launceston and Hobart. Known for her ability and discretion, she earned the respect of colleagues and the gratitude of the Government.
She nursed through Tasmania’s gruelling typhoid epidemics of 1885-87 and retired from the LGH due to ill health in 1886. She, like her mother, contracted tuberculosis, which led to her death in 1890 at the tragically early age of thirty-four.