This year, Flinders University is celebrating 50 years of delivering nursing education to generations of nurses who care for patients, advance research, transform healthcare, and educate the next cohort of nurses and health professionals in South Australia, across Australia, and around the world.
1975 saw the development of the ground-breaking nursing curriculum at Sturt College of Advanced Education, the precursor institution of Flinders University. This was the first tertiary institution in South Australia, and only the third in Australia, to offer a program designed to prepare students of nursing to obtain their qualifications.
The late Dr Joan Durdin AM, RN, FRCNA (Hon), (DUniv ’94) was instrumental in the establishment of the nursing course. A distinguished nursing education pioneer, Dr Joan Durdin worked tirelessly throughout her life to improve the professional status of nursing across Australia and internationally. The annual Flinders University Joan Durdin Oration, named in her honour, will be combined this year with a celebratory cocktail function to acknowledge the 50-year anniversary of nursing education.
We invite you to join us to celebrate this significant milestone. All nursing alumni, current and previous staff and our industry partners will reconnect to reminisce and rejoice.
Professor Tiffany Conroy
Deputy Dean for Nursing Leadership and Innovation, College of Nursing and Health Sciences
History of Nursing Resources at the State Library of South Australia
JD Sommerville Oral History Collection
- Transcript of an interview with Joan Durdin, 31 July 1992 by Jennifer Barker (CDs available for listening in the collection) Ref: OH 891/15
- Transcript and recordings of interviews with Joan Durdin by Susan Timpani., recorded on 24 November 2017 and 20 July 2022. Ref: OH 1132.
Health and Medical Research Building at Flinders Village
Renowned as innovative and progressive, Flinders University knows bringing the brightest minds together with industry can change the world. That’s why we’ve invested in and built a new Health and Medical Research Building (HMRB) as the centrepiece of our exciting Flinders Village development.
The HMRB enables researchers, practitioners and industry partners to work together more closely than ever before, creating a hub of collaboration within southern Adelaide’s own biomedical research precinct.
Located adjacent to Flinders Medical Centre and Flinders Private Hospital, it is the focal point of research informed by genuine patient need, positioned to make an immediate improvement to people’s health and wellbeing.
Building on more than 50 years of exceptional health and medical teaching, the HMRB is a once-in-a-generation initiative that will transform how we understand, diagnose and treat illness.
Sturt Rd, Bedford Park
South Australia 5042
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