Lucy Osburn

Lucy Osburn (1 April 1836 – 22 December 1891) was an English nurse trained at the School of Nursing founded by Florence Nightingale (now part of King's College London). She is regarded as the founder of modern nursing in Australia.

Early life Osburn was born in Leeds, Yorkshire, England. Her father William Osburn was a wine and spirits merchant but his passion was for Egyptology, writing books and social reform. When Lucy was around five years old, her father became bankrupt and reputedly moved to Manchester. She remained in Leeds, living with her aunt, but attended school in Southwell, Nottinghamshire, believed to be Catherine Heathcote's boarding school for 'young ladies'. When she was 21 years old, she was employed as a governess and companion to her cousin's family in Jerusalem. She stayed there for three years, and travelled in Europe before returning home. During this time she claimed to have learnt nursing. When Florence Nightingale later questioned her claim, Lucy avoided the question by stating her 'best loved occupation was I believe breaking in Arab horses on Syrian plains'.

Nursing By the time Lucy Osburn returned to England she had developed an interest in nursing. It is likely that, like so many other educated socially aware women, she visited the famous Deaconess Training Hospital at Kaiserswerth in Düsseldorf, Germany. By 1866 she toyed with accepting an invitation to become a medical missionary in India. With this is mind, she entered the Nightingale Training School at St Thomas' Hospital. They were to be based at the Sydney Infirmary and Dispensary and train nurses to institute the new nursing system throughout the colony. Lucy Osburn and five other St Thomas' trained nurses, including Haldane Turriff, arrived in Sydney on 5 March 1868. Within a week of her arrival she was called upon to provide nurses to care for the Duke of Edinburgh following an attempt on his life.

By December Lucy Osburn had trained 16 additional nurses at the first secular nurse training facility in the colony. Lucy Osburn-Nightingale Museum, Sydney Hospital.

Other honors Osburn was posthumously inducted onto the Victorian Honour Roll of Women in 2001.

Her name is one of those featured on the sculpture Ribbons, unveiled in 2024.