Alice Tibbits (1854–1932) was a

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories ...

n nursing pioneer who was matron and owner of the

Private Hospital, Wakefield Street The Calvary Wakefield Hospital, formerly Private Hospital, Wakefield Street (PHWS) and variants, Wakefield Street Private Hospital, Wakefield Memorial Hospital and Wakefield Hospital, referred to informally as "the Wakefield", was a private ho ...

in the 1880s. She was one of the first to train nurses in Australia and was known as the "

Florence Nightingale Florence Nightingale (; 12 May 1820 – 13 August 1910) was an English social reformer, statistician and the founder of modern nursing. Nightingale came to prominence while serving as a manager and trainer of nurses during the Crimean War, i ...

of South Australia".

Early life and education

Alice Tibbits was born in

Walsall Walsall (, or ; locally ) is a market town and administrative centre in the West Midlands County, England. Historically part of Staffordshire, it is located north-west of Birmingham, east of Wolverhampton and from Lichfield. Walsall is t ...

, Staffordshire, England in 1854. She and her friend Kate Hill were influenced by Anglican community nurse

Sister Dora Dorothy Wyndlow Pattison, better known as Sister Dora (16 January 1832 – 24 December 1878), was a 19th-century Anglican nun and nurse who worked in Walsall, Staffordshire. Life Dorothy Wyndlow Pattison was born in Hauxwell, North Riding ...

(Dorothy Wyndlow Pattison) in Staffordshire. The two friends emigrated to South Australia in 1879 and began nursing at the newly opened

Adelaide Children's Hospital The Women's and Children's Hospital is located on King William Road in North Adelaide, Australia. It is one of the major hospitals in Adelaide and is a teaching hospital of the University of Adelaide, the University of South Australia and Flin ...

. Tibbits was the first person to receive a certificate of training from the hospital in 1881. The training included care of sick children, maternity nursing, and secondment to the lying-in wards of the Destitute Asylum. Upon completion of the course, Tibbits went to

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

at her own expense to complete a further two years as a probationer at the

London Hospital The Royal London Hospital is a large teaching hospital in Whitechapel in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It is part of Barts Health NHS Trust. It provides district general hospital services for the City of London and Tower Hamlets and sp ...

and six months training in

midwifery Midwifery is the health science and health profession that deals with pregnancy, childbirth, and the postpartum period (including care of the newborn), in addition to the sexual and reproductive health of women throughout their lives. In many cou ...

at the

Endell Street Endell Street, originally known as Belton Street, is a street in London's West End that runs from High Holborn in the north to Long Acre and Bow Street, Covent Garden, in the south. A long tall narrow building on the west side is an 1840s-bu ...

Nursing Home. Tibbits was a member of the

Baptist church Baptists form a major branch of Protestantism distinguished by baptizing professing Christian believers only ( believer's baptism), and doing so by complete immersion. Baptist churches also generally subscribe to the doctrines of soul com ...

Career

Tibbits returned to South Australia in 1884 and worked for William Gardner, who requested that she become

matron Matron is the job title of a very senior or the chief nurse in several countries, including the United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland and other Commonwealth countries and former colonies. Etymology The chief nurse, in other words the person ...

of the

. She purchased the hospital in 1888 and doubled its bed capacity to 30. In 1902, she acquired two cottages in Ifould Street, as well as a two-storey house on

Wakefield Street Wakefield Street is a main thoroughfare intersecting the centre of the South Australian capital, Adelaide, from east to west at its midpoint. It crosses Victoria Square in the centre of the city, which has a grid street plan. It continues as ...

, which she named "Hatherton" after her home in Staffordshire. She was the first woman in Adelaide to train nurses. Tibbits was a

suffragist Suffrage, political franchise, or simply franchise, is the right to vote in public, political elections and referendums (although the term is sometimes used for any right to vote). In some languages, and occasionally in English, the right to v ...

. She and eight of her trained nurses signed the petition which led to the ''

Constitutional Amendment (Adult Suffrage) Act 1894 The ''Constitutional Amendment (Adult Suffrage) Act 1894'' was an Act of the Parliament of South Australia to amend the South Australian ''Constitution Act 1856'' to include women's suffrage. It was the seventh attempt to introduce voting righ ...

'', giving South Australian women the right to vote and to stand for parliament. In 1902, Hill joined her as a partner and owner of the Wakefield Street Hospital. Tibbits acquired further nearby properties in 1905. Under her leadership, it became the first training hospital for nurses in the

colony In modern parlance, a colony is a territory subject to a form of foreign rule. Though dominated by the foreign colonizers, colonies remain separate from the administration of the original country of the colonizers, the ''metropole, metropolit ...

, and later state, of

. Tibbits herself worked ten-to-twelve hour days. She retired in 1903 and sold the goodwill of the hospital to Hill. In 1905, Tibbits advocated for, and was alongside Hill involved in founding, the South Australian branch of the Australasian Trained Nurses Association at a meeting chaired by suffragist

Rosetta Jane Birks Rosetta Jane "Rose" Birks (1856–1911) was a social reformer and philanthropist who played a key role in South Australian women's suffrage. Birks née Thomas was born in Adelaide, South Australia on 12 March 1856 to English-born parents Willi ...

. Tibbits served as a member of the executive for many years.

Death and legacy

Tibbits lived for twenty years in a home called "Hatherton" on 2.75 acres at

Mount Lofty Mount Lofty (, elevation AHD) is the highest point in the southern Mount Lofty Ranges. It is located about east of the Adelaide city centre, within the Cleland National Park in the Adelaide Hills area of South Australia. The mountain's su ...

, where she died on 2 February 1932 after a long illness. She is buried in the

West Terrace Cemetery The West Terrace Cemetery is South Australia's oldest cemetery, first appearing on Colonel William Light's 1837 plan of Adelaide. The site is located in Park 23 of the Adelaide Park Lands just south-west of the Adelaide city centre, between ...

. Tibbits left £1,000 in her will to the

Hospital for a bed in memory of her grandfather. Newspapers at the time said she was known as the "

of South Australia". In November 1938, a brass

commemorative plaque A commemorative plaque, or simply plaque, or in other places referred to as a historical marker, historic marker, or historic plaque, is a plate of metal, ceramic, stone, wood, or other material, typically attached to a wall, stone, or other ...

was erected in her memory in the hospital's reception area, after nurses trained by her suggested the need to "perpetuate her memory."

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tibbits, Alice 1854 births 1932 deaths People from Walsall Australian nurses Nursing educators Australian Baptists Burials at West Terrace Cemetery