| Being There - By Susan Sherson |
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The Graduate Nurses' Association has published Being There, the story of nursing and nurses at the Melbourne Hospital, the first hospital in Victoria, Australia.
Written by longtime RMH nurse Susan Sherson, more than 380 people attended the book's launch by former Victorian Premier, the Hon Joan Kirner, in April 2005.
The story starts in the 1840s when Melbourne was a small settlement and funds were raised to provide care for the sick and the poor, and interweaves the theme of nursing with the history of Melbourne and Victoria over more than 150 years.
The evening was organised by the RMH Graduate Nurses' Association and Melbourne Health Fundraising staff, and was attended by current and former RMH nurses and their friends, many travelling from interstate and overseas.
From its beginnings to the present day, the story of nurses at 'The Melbourne' is a story of Melbourne, of constant social change, of developing professionalism and women's rights, of excellence in nursing care and influence that has spread throughout Australia and abroad.
It is not exaggerating to say that 'Melbourne nurses' have been everywhere and done everything. Some of their extraordinary stories are captured in the book, which also contains an appendix of all nurses who graduated (RMH and MSN) in the formal training years of 1890-1993.
Sue Sherson is an RMH nurse educator, author and ethicist, who trained at the Royal Melbourne. Her book, House of Love, documenting the role of first Australian surgical team to arrive in South Vietnam during the Vietnam War, was published in 1966. | 
