Living History

1954, the year I finished school and gained my first employment

1954, the year I finished school and gained my first employment.

It was strange but I knew already what I wanted to do with my life, well, in the early part of it anyway. When I was about 10 my parents took me to visit the sister of my godfather who had been a nurse during the First World War. This lady so filled me with wonderful stories that from then on I knew what I would be doing in the future, but in the meantime having passed my intermediate certificate and desperately wanting to leave school I began to think what would I do? Hairdressing excited me but when I went for an interview and stated that I wanted to be a nurse, it was suggested that I do something else. My Dad was a town business man and had all the contacts and kept coming home saying there is a job for you with Mr so and so here and Mr so and so there, I suppose I was very fortunate.

My first job was working as a clerk in large produce store taking care of the office and books, but found the office dark and really I couldn’t stand the constant smell of chaff and fertilisers. So, as soon as I could, I changed over to being a junior clerk in a local news paper office and this I found exciting, though on slow days, especially in the afternoons when the sun shone through the windows, it was hard to stay awake and sometimes I would just try to type articles out of the papers for practice so as to keep the eyes open..

My few months at the produce store taught me lots and of course I had my own money and therefore I could buy clothes all by myself and, if I remember correctly my first piece of clothing went on lay-by. Wow! Me being able to personally have a lay-by was really special. Most days my lunch break was spent with a friend from school who worked in a solicitor's office across the road from my store, she would tell me how she was trying to learn to type and it had been suggested to her that she begin a shorthand and typing course at the local college after work. I talked this over with my parents and so she and I began the course, but for me it was a little hard going as I really didn’t have to type at work and so shorthand became a favourite though in my nursing days. This faded when I would take down lecture notes in shorthand, and as no body else could read them I was asked to refrain from doing so... At times my early days of my nursing Career were very tough compared to nursing today.

Elaine, New South Wales

Look at more contributions:

previous | next