Muriel Conomie Stanley

Muriel Conomie Stanley (6 April 1918 – 18 May 1979), also known as Sister Stanley, was an Indigenous Australian Anglican home missionary, obstetric nurse and social worker. Before earning her nursing degree, she served as the matron of a Church Army children's home in Tasmania. She became an obstetric nurse in 1945, making her one of the first Aboriginal Australians to become a registered midwife. She then served as matron of the Yarrabah mission hospital. She held this role from 1945 to until 1959. Leaving the mission, she moved to London for a training course in moral welfare. She returned to Australia and became a social worker for the Anglican Church in Australia, working in Aboriginal Australian communities in Queensland.

Early life and education Muriel Conomie Stanley was born on 6 April 1918, in Yarrabah, Queensland, which is located on the traditional lands of the Gunggandji people. Her parents were Luke and Jessie Ross (née Kepple) Stanley.

Career

Stanley was working as an assistant teacher at the Yarrabah mission school by 1937. In the Dictionary of Australian Biography, she is described as being "the first Aborigine to qualify in midwifery." When Stanley returned to Yarrabah in 1945, to work as the hospital matron, she successfully petitioned for an exemption from the law, so that her wages would be paid directly to her. Some changes were made to improve the situation, but according to a Cairns newspaper report in 1959, conditions in the mission were still "appalling." In 1960, the Anglican mission at Yarrabah closed, and the government of Queensland took control of the Yarrabah hospital and other facilities.

Personal life

Stanley married Norman Gresham Underwood in St. Alban's Church in Yarrabah on 19 December 1970.

Death

Stanley died on 18 May 1979, in Gordonvale, Queensland. She is buried in the Gordonvale cemetery.