DOHERTY, MURIEL KNOX (1896-1988), nurse and air force principal matron, was born
on 19 July 1896 at Prahran, Melbourne, eldest of three children of Victorian-born
parents Robert Knox Doherty, clerk, and his wife Elizabeth Mary, née Mendell.
Taught at home by a governess until the family moved to Wollstonecraft, Sydney,
about 1909, Muriel completed her education at Woodstock private school, North
Sydney. In 1914 she was employed as the school nurse and an unqualified teacher at
Abbotsleigh, Wahroonga. That year she gained the St John Ambulance Association’s
first aid and home nursing certificate. In 1915-21 she was a member of the
Australian Red Cross Society’s No.6 Voluntary Aid Detachment, North Sydney,
working at the Sydney, Mater Misericordiae and Royal Prince Alfred hospitals. She
left Abbotsleigh in 1917 so that she could be a full-time VAD while helping her
mother at home.
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Australian Dictionary of Biography Online
Muriel Knox Doherty began nursing in 1921 at Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, New South Wales, and set up the first preliminary training school at the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, 1933-1937. In her capacity as matron-in-charge she was the first nurse appointed to the rank of squadron leader in the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF), where she inaugurated the Royal Australian Air Force Nursing Service. After World War II she worked with displaced persons at Bergen Belsen concentration camp, as a member of United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration. One of four founders of the New South Wales College of Nursing in 1949, she was also instrumental in the establishment of the Civilian Nursing Services Bureau, and co-authored the first Australian text book for nurses, Modern Practical Nursing Procedures, 1944. She was awarded the Royal Red Cross Medal (1st Class) in 1945 for her work in the RAAF Nursing Service.
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Australian Women's Register
Muriel Knox Doherty began nursing in 1921 at Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, New South Wales, and set up the first preliminary training school at the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, 1933-1937. In her capacity as Matron in Charge she was the first nurse appointed to the rank of Squadron Leader in the Royal Australian Air Force, where she inaugurated the Royal Australian Air Force Nursing Service. After the Second World War she worked with displaced persons at Bergen Belsen concentration camp, as a member of United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration. One of four founders of the New South Wales College of Nursing in 1949, she was also instrumental in the establishment of the Civilian Nursing Services Bureau, and co-authored the first Australian text book for nurses, Modern Practical Nursing Procedures, 1944.
Muriel Knox Doherty was born 19 July 1896 in Victoria. She began her nursing career in 1921 at Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, New South Wales. Completing her training in 1925, she received the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital's Sir Alfred Roberts Medal for General Nursing Proficiency. In 1930 she gained a Sister Tutor Diploma, Kings College of Household and Social Sciences, University of London, UK. On her return to Australia she set up the first preliminary training school at the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, 1933-1937. She served in the Red Cross Voluntary Aid Detachment during the First World War and in the Services from 1935 to 1946. She was the first nurse appointed to the rank of Squadron Leader in her capacity as Matron in Charge in the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) later rising to the rank of Wing Commander. This work was recognised by the award of the Royal Red Cross Medal (1st Class) presented by King George VI in London in 1945. A member of United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration (UNRRA) she was also involved with displaced persons in the immediate post war period in the capacity of Chief Nurse and Principal Matron at Bergen Belsen concentration camp in Germany. In 1946 Knox Doherty was posted to Poland and assisted with rehabilitation and nursing education.
Her interest in the growth of the nursing profession is evidenced in the strategic and developmental activities in which she took part, particularly in New South Wales. She was a member of the Australasian Trained Nurses Association; one of four founders of the New South Wales College of Nursing in 1949 and a Foundation Fellow, 1949-1988. She was also a member of the Institute of Hospital Matrons (NSW & ACT). She assisted in the inauguration of the National Florence Nightingale Memorial Committee, becoming one of its first two Vice-Presidents and was instrumental in the establishment of the Civilian Nursing Services Bureau. She co-authored the first Australian text book for nurses, Modern Practical Nursing Procedures, along with Marjorie Bernice Sirl and Olive Isabel Ring (Sydney: Dymocks Book Arcade, 1944). Knox Doherty died 29 September 1988 in New South Wales.
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1914
Gained St John Ambulance First Aid Home Nursing Certificate
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1914 - 1917
School Nurse and untrained teacher at Abbotsleigh School in Wahroonga, New South Wales
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1917 - 1919
Red Cross No. 6 Voluntary Aid Detachment (full time)
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1919 - 1921
Teacher (relief) Abbotsleigh (and home duties)
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5 November 1921
Commenced nurse training at the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, Sydney
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1925
Charge Nurse for six months and then appointed Sister at the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital
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1930 - 1932
Private nursing work in London and Europe
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1932 - 1933
Tutor sister course at Kings College, University of London
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1933 - 1937
Sister Tutor at the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital and established the first Preliminary Training School
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1935
Volunteer for the Australian Army Nursing Service
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1937 - 1939
Sister Tutor at the Prince Henry Hospital, Sydney
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1939
Called up as Sister Clerk to the Office of the Principal Matron with the Australian Army Nursing Service
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1940
Transferred to RAAF and was First Squadron Leader / Matron-in-Charge and later Principal Matron and Wing Commander at the No. 3 RAAF Hospital in Richmond, NSW. Established the Royal Australian Air Force Nursing Service in New South Wales
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1940 - 1943
Member of the Kelly Committee for the Reorganisation of the Nursing Profession
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1945 - 1946
Demobilised and appointed to United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration (UNRRA). Served in Germany (Belsen) and as the Chief Nurse to the Public Health Consultant in Poland
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1946
Returned to Australia
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1955 - 1957
Travelled extensively in Europe
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1957 - 1961
Lived in Australia
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1961 - 1965
Lived in UK
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1966
Returned to Australia and lived in Sydney until her death in 1988
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Encyclopedia of Australian Science