It is with great sadness that Flinders University has learnt of the passing of Joan Durdin AM, the first Head of the Nursing Department at Flinders University.
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Dr Joan Durdin AM, RN, FRCNA (Hon), (DUniv ’94) was a pioneer both nationally and internationally in nursing, midwifery, and nurse education.
Born in Adelaide in 1922, Joan was educated at the Methodist Ladies College (now Annesley College) before completing her general nursing training at the Royal Adelaide Hospital in 1945. She then moved to Melbourne to complete her midwifery training at the Queen Victoria Hospital.
Following this, Joan returned to Adelaide to study infant welfare at Torrens House. In 1949, she was awarded a Florence Nightingale Scholarship to study at the Royal College of Nursing London.
She later returned to the Royal Adelaide Hospital where she was Senior Sister Tutor from 1955 until 1964, before spending six years as a nurse educator in Papua New Guinea at St Barnabas’ School, an Anglican Mission Hospital.
In 1974, Joan joined the Nursing Department at Flinders University (then the Sturt College of Advanced Education) as a lecturer. A year later, she became a fundamental part of establishing South Australia’s first tertiary nursing course – and only the third in Australia.
From 1979 to 1981, Joan was the campus’ first Head of the Nursing Department, then the Head of the School of Health Professions at Flinders University before she retired in 1983.
Following her retirement, Joan continued to serve the academic and professional nursing community, completing an Honours degree in History at the University of Adelaide.
She put this to use by becoming involved in the Royal College of Nursing Australia’s (RCNA) National History Project, developing an oral history handbook and coordinating the National Oral History Program. Joan convened a sub-committee to compile the South Australian Chapter’s archives and wrote and published They Became Nurses: a History of Nursing in South Australia, 1836-1980, and Eleven Thousand Nurses: A History of Nursing Education at the Royal Adelaide Hospital 1889-1993 as well as a number of biographies and journal articles.
Between 1976 and 1980, Joan was President of the South Australian Branch of the Royal Australian Nursing Federation (now the Australian Nursing Federation) and a member of the Board of Management of Child and Adolescent and Family Health Service for three years, including Chair of the Board in 1983.
Joan was also active in the work of the College of Nursing Australia, (now the RCNA) which awarded her an Honorary Fellowship in 1984.
The importance of Joan’s work was recognised when she was made a Member of the Order of Australia in 1985 for services to nursing education. In 1994, she was awarded an honorary doctorate from Flinders University.
In May 2022, Joan celebrated her 100th birthday and was honoured with a celebration hosted by Flinders University’s College of Nursing and Health Sciences. In recognition of Joan’s achievements, the first annual Flinders University Joan Durdin AM Oration was announced at this time and later held in May 2023, along with the creation of the Nursing Leadership Mentoring Program.
Interim Vice-President and Executive Dean for the College of Nursing and Health Sciences Professor Michelle Miller said that Joan’s legacy will live on for years to come.
“We remember an inspirational nursing leader who was instrumental to the formation and success of nursing studies at Flinders University. We also mourn the loss of a friend, colleague and mentor to many.
Joan will be greatly missed by all that knew her. Her legacy will live on in the many lives she has had an impact on in the broader nursing community,” said Professor Miller.
The Joan Durdin AM Oration and the Flinders Nursing Leadership Program will continue to pay tribute to the work of Joan Durdin AM and ensure her legacy of leadership in nursing is never forgotten.
For those of who wish to attend, her funeral service details are listed here.
Vale Joan.
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Flinders University acknowledges that this news may be upsetting for members of the Flinders family. Please remember that staff can access the Employee Assistant Program (EAP) at any time, and the Health & Wellbeing page has a list of resources and support services available for students.
Watch the 2023 Joan Durdin AM Oration here and the 2024 Oration here. Learn more about the Nursing Leadership Mentoring Program here