[NURSING] Scrap album of testimonials compiled by Melbourne, Beechworth and Bendigo nurse Hilda Burn (Morres), 1897-1902.

Quarto album (265 x 215 mm), original limp sheepskin ruled in gilt, the upper cover lettered in gilt ‘Testimonials. Nurse Burn. Melbourne Hospital’ (covers very lightly scuffed, spine ends a little worn); front pastedown with binder’s ticket of Sands & McDougall Bookbinders Ltd, Melbourne, and later inscription in pen by a family member fully identifying the owner of the album as Hilda May Burn (Morres); [16] leaves containing numerous handwritten professional testimonials for Nurse Burn, as well as her Certificate for General Nursing, with dates ranging from 1897-1902, all mounted individually recto and verso; plus a number of mounted and captioned photomechanical process illustrations of the Bendigo General Hospital (these are cuttings from an unidentified publication), and numerous newspaper cuttings relating to Hilda’s personal life and career, as well as some later cuttings on the death of Nellie Melba (1931); loosely enclosed are a small number of additional documents, including a professional certificate issued to Nurse Burn by the Melbourne Hospital and two significant official documents addressed to her by the Bendigo General Hospital; clean and well preserved throughout.

This unique album allows us to trace the brief but illustrious career of a female nurse working in Melbourne and regional Victorian hospitals around the turn of the twentieth century. It also amply demonstrates the high esteem in which she was held  by her “superiors” – the male doctors on whose staff she worked, some of whom were among the leading Melbourne surgeons of the day.

Hilda May Burn (1868-1940) was born in Orbost, East Gippsland, and seems to have found her vocation in nursing relatively late, at around the age of 27. For a period of some eight years she was a greatly valued member of the nursing staff at hospitals in Melbourne, Beechworth and Bendigo (see below). She married Leslie Byron Morres, an accountant of South Yarra, in Melbourne in 1904. (Unlike Hilda, whose character was beyond reproach, her husband was evidently untrustworthy and deceitful: he was jailed for twelve months in 1917 for embezzling the children’s home of which he was the honorary treasurer). Hilda spent her married life in Melbourne and died in Parkville in 1949. She is buried in the Melbourne General Cemetery.

Among the more significant contents of Hilda’s album are the following:

1. Charles Perry, house surgeon at the Melbourne Hospital. Handwritten testimonial for Miss Burn, dated 6 June 1897. ‘She is a well trained nurse, competent to act as Matron to any hospital.’
2. Frederic Dougal Bird, Lecturer on Surgery, Melbourne University. Handwritten testimonial for Miss Burn, dated 16 June 1897. ‘I have great pleasure in testifying to the nursing capabilities of Miss Burn. She was nurse in my wards at the Melbourne Hospital & I have every confidence in her as a surgical nurse.’
3. R. A. Stirling, surgeon to the Melbourne and St. Vincent’s Hospitals. Handwritten testimonial for Nurse Burn, dated 16 June 1897. ‘Nurse Burn has been in charge of some of the wards in the Melbourne Hospital, and I have formed a very high opinion of her proficiency, & of her ability to manage a ward properly, & if need be a hospital or series of wards. She would make an excellent Matron to any hospital.’
4. W. Moore, surgeon to out-patients, Melbourne Hospital. Handwritten testimonial for Nurse Burn, dated 16 June 1897.  ‘I have much pleasure in stating that Nurse Burn, who has been engaged in nursing at the Melbourne Hospital for the past two years, has frequently been in wards where I have patients. She has shown herself trustworthy and intelligent, and she has acquired a good knowledge of surgical nursing. Nurse Burn is a thoroughly trained surgical nurse.’
5. Dr. J. W. Springthorpe, Physician to the Melbourne Hospital, “Camelot”, Collins Street, Melbourne. Handwritten testimonial for Miss Burn, dated 16 June 1897. ‘She has had experience in medical, surgical & infectious cases … I can recommend her … as qualified, & likely to give satisfaction in the discharge of said duties.’
6. J.R. MacInerney, Honorary Physician to the Melbourne Hospital, “Blakemount House”, Brunswick Street, Fitzroy. Handwritten testimonial for Nurse Burn, dated 16 June 1897.
7. Dr. H. Molloy, Medical Superintendent of the Melbourne Hospital. Handwritten testimonial for Miss Burn, dated 17 June 1897.  ‘She is always to be found actively engaged in her wards, is kind & attentive to her patients and carries out all instructions given her promptly & efficiently. She is now a duly qualified & examined nurse & is worthy of promotion.’
8. Miss M. D. Farquharson, Lady Superintendent of the Melbourne Hospital. Handwritten testimonial for Miss Burn, dated 17 June 1897. ‘Mis Hilda Burn has trained at this hospital for two years & is a qualified medical & surgical nurse. She is quick, intelligent & cheerful. I wish her success in her future work.’
9. P. Moloney, Physician to the Melbourne and St. Vincent’s Hospitals. Handwritten testimonial for Nurse Burn, dated 17 June 1897. ‘Nurse Burn during the past two years has had charge of the patients under my care in the Melbourne Hospital and I can testify to her kindness, skill and intelligence….’
10. Thomas Fitzgerald, eminent Melbourne surgeon, of “Rostella”, Lonsdale Street. Handwritten testimonial for Nurse Burn, on behalf of the Melbourne Hospital, dated 26 June 1897. Fitzgerald notes that she has been at the Hospital for two years, passed her examinations with Honours, and in supervising one of his wards she has given him ‘every satisfaction.’
11. Edward W. Deane, Alfred Hospital (late Senior Resident Surgeon, Melbourne Hospital). Handwritten testimonial for Miss Burn, dated 1 July 1897. ‘I have much pleasure in testifying to the high opinion I hold of the capabilities of Miss burn of the Melbourne Hospital … she always displayed an intense interest in her work, and conspicuous ability in carrying out her duties….’
12. C. E. Crowley, Senior Resident Surgeon, Melbourne Hospital (late Resident Surgeon to Alfred Hospital and Bendigo Hospital). Handwritten testimonial for Miss Burn. [No date, but 1897]. ‘… she possesses in a high degree all the qualities that a nurse should possess….’
13. Melbourne Hospital. Lithographed certificate on parchment, with ms. entries, dated 29 June 1897, awarded to Hilda May Burn on the successful completion of her two years’ training and passing of examinations, thus qualifying her as a ‘skilled nurse’. Signed by J. W. Springthorpe (Chairman of the Medical Staff), Miss M. D. Farquharson (Lady Superintendent), John Grice (President), and J. Williams (Secretary).
14. Charles Crosby, of W. Crosby & Co., Collins Street, Melbourne. Handwritten testimonial for Miss Burn, dated 26 September 1898. addressed to the Committee of the Melbourne Orphan Asylum, in reference to her application for the position of Matron: ‘… she is a good manager, as well as a trained nurse, very fond of children, thorough and trustworthy, of excellent character.’
15. Helene M. Downes, Assistant Honorary Secretary, Melbourne Hospital for Sick Children. To ‘Sister Burn’, 28 September 1898. 2 pp. letter stating the Hospital will be sorry to lose her services.
16. Dr. A. F. [?], Harcourt. Handwritten testimonial for Miss Hilda M. Burn, dated 28 September 1898. Recommending Nurse Burn for the position of Matron at the Melbourne Orphan Asylum.
17. J. C. Stamp, Secretary of the Bendigo Gold District General Hospital. Handwritten letter, dated 13 December 1898, advising Miss Hilda Burn that she has been appointed Matron of the hospital at a salary of £78 per annum.
18. Dr. Hugh Boyd, Bendigo General Hospital. Handwritten testimonial for Miss Burn, dated 13 June 1901. ‘[I am] honour bound to say that she has very materially helped to place the Institution in such a fit condition as it never before attained. Thoroughly conversant with the minutest details of nursing on the most modern lines, she also possesses the faculty of thorough management, and if she is successful in her application to the appointment at Mount Morgan Hospital, will place that Institution in the benefit of services which I consider valuable to it – and a loss to the Hospital where she now presides as Matron.’
19. Dr. Thomas Murphy, Bendigo General Hospital. Handwritten testimonial for Miss Burn, dated 14 June 1901. ‘… she has completely revolutionised the nursing arrangements. From a hospital of the old school she has by her skilful management arranged it into a thoroughly up-to-date & surgically aseptic institution….’
20. Bendigo Gold District General Hospital. Handwritten calligraphic document with seal of the Hospital, dated 20 February 1902, addressed to Miss Hilda May Burn. ‘Dear Madam, Your resignation having been accepted by the Board of Management we have been deputed by them to hand you a sum of £25, voted as a recognition of the Zeal and Enthusiasm you have always displayed in the fulfilment of your onerous duties during the three years you have been Matron of this Hospital….’
21. Dr. Hugh Boyd, Bendigo General Hospital. Handwritten testimonial for Miss Burn, dated 3 March 1902. ‘For order, cleanliness and discipline she is unsurpassable and brought up the condition of the place to the highest standard … any public Institution to which she may be appointed will be the better for her….’
22. Frances H. Campbell, Hon. Sec. of the Committee of the Children’s Ward of the Bendigo General Hospital. Falkland Hose, Bendigo, 17 March 1902. Handwritten letter to Miss Burn, communicating that at the last Committee meeting since her recent resignation, the members of the Ladies’ Visiting Committee ‘spoke in the highest terms of your loving care of the little ones in the Children’s Wards & a resolution was passed unanimously expressing the appreciation by the General Committee of your valuable services….’
23. Victorian Trained Nurses’ Association. Certificate for General Nursing. Issued to H. M. Burn, Trained Nurses Home, St. Kilda, dated 11 June 1902.