Qualifications.
PhD (Macq), BA(Hons) (UNE), MPHlth (a.e.g. Syd), Dip.Ed. (UNE), FACN (Hon), MPHA(NSW).
Sample of Projects
- Consultant for a history of dietitians in Australia to 1950.
- Preparing a scoping document for Dietitians Australia for its history from 1950 to 1983.
- Consultant editor and historian for Bangalore Dies with Me. An historical reflection on the legacy and lives of three generations of Morant family pioneers on the heritage protected property ‘Bangalore” in Renmark, SA by Peter Loveday (Peter Loveday, Sydney, 2021)
- Commissioned history of the mental health organisation, Aftercare (now called Stride).
- Commissioned history of the Australian Pain Society.
- Consultant to TV series Love Child.
- Commissioned history of Crown Street Women’s Hospital.
Employment
- Senior Lecturer, School of Public Health, University of Sydney, 2005-08.
- Senior Lecturer, Department of Clinical Nursing, Faculty of Nursing and Midwifery, University of Sydney, 1999-2005.
- Head, Department of Behavioural and Social Sciences in Nursing, Faculty of Nursing, University of Sydney, 1995-99.
- Lecturer/Senior Lecturer (Research Program Coordinator), Centre for Teaching & Learning, University of Sydney (half-time secondment, 1992-95.
- Various academic positions in Sydney College of Advanced Education/University of Sydney, 1987-95.
Awards / Appointments
- Honorary Associate in the Department of History, School of Philosophical and Historical Inquiry, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, The University of Sydney, 2008-11; 2016-22.
- Honorary (Life) Member of the Australian and New Zealand Society of the History of Medicine, conferred 2020.
- Patron, Ryde District Historical Society, Ryde, NSW, 2014 – current.
- Honorary Fellow of the Australian College of Nursing, conferred 2011.
- Co-authored Nursing before Nightingale 1815-1899 selected an Outstanding Academic Title by Choice: Current Reviews for Academic Libraries. The citation reads: ‘Comprising just over 9 percent of the more than 25,000 titles submitted to Choice in 2012, Outstanding Academic Titles are the “the best of the best”.’
- American Association for the History of Nursing’s Lavinia L. Dock Award for Exemplary Historical Research and Writing for co-authored Nursing before Nightingale 1815-1899,
- My Lucy Osburn, a lady displaced. Florence Nightingale’s envoy to Australia, Sydney University Press, 2006, short-listed for the National Biography Award, 2008.
- Awarded ad eundem gradum Master of Public Health, University of Sydney, 2008.
- Presented the International Nurses’ Day Oration, University of Sunshine Coast, 12 May 2008.
- Honorary Associate, Unit for History and Philosophy of Science, University of Sydney, 2005-08.
- C.H. Currey Memorial Fellow, State Library of NSW, 2002.
- Honorary Visiting Fellow, School of History, Philosophy and Politics, 1 July-1 December 1994.
- Nursing History Research Unit, Faculty of Nursing, University of Sydney, an associate of the Unit from its founding in 1990.
- Colonel George Johnston Scholarship in Australian History, University of Sydney, 1987.
- Vacation scholarship at ANU, summer vacation 1974-75.
Community Service
Current
• Royal Australian Historical Society, Councillor and Affiliated Societies Committee member, 2024 – current;
• Ku-ring-gai Historical Society (KHS), Secretary, with extensive volunteer contributions outside of the Secretary’s role including regular articles in its newsletter, organising tours of RNSH Archives and RAHS Library and an archives workshop, articles on behalf of KHS for the local newspaper the Sydney Observer, 2019 – current;
• Ryde District Historical Society, Patron, 2016 – current; Member Publications Committee, 2018 – current.
• Roseville Probus Club, Founding Secretary, 2018-21 with continued membership and contributions to the newsletter 2018 – current.
• Sharing Ideas group (Mosman, North Shore, Willoughby, Ryde District, Ku-ring-gai and Hornsby Historical Societies), founder and member, 2004 – current.
Past contributions
• After Care Association of NSW (now Stride Mental Health), Board member and Psychiatric Support Services Committee member, 1996–98.
• American Association of the History of Nursing, member Research Review Panel, 2011-14.
• Australian College of Nursing (ACN), Nursing History Conference committee member, 2014-15. Life membership awarded by the NSW College of Nursing (now part of the CAN) for contributions of nursing history.
• Australian Historical Association (AHA), Secretary, 1999–2002; Convenor of Visions of the History of Nursing and Visions of the History of Medicine strands at the AHA conference, Newcastle, July 2004; Copyright Agency Ltd’s research student mentor at AHA Conference, Ballarat, July 2016.
• Australian Nursing History Group, Founding member from May 2003 and e-news coordinator; Convenor of the Group’s Visions of the History of Nursing strand at the AHA conference, Newcastle, July 2004.
• Australian Society of the History of Medicine/(from 2005) Australian and New Zealand Society of the History of Medicine, President, 2005–07; Vice-President 2003–2005; Councillor, c.1998 – 2021; Ben Haneman Memorial Postgraduate Student/Early Career Researcher Grants Co-ordinator, 2011–21; Judge for Ben Haneman Memorial Student Prize 2011–15; contributor to Medical History; Chair of Abstract Committee for the 19th Biennial Conference, July 2025. The citation for Life membership was that it was awarded for ‘outstanding contributions to the Society. .. many achievements and contributions to governance, administration, conference organisation, prize and bursary judging, mentoring, and the active promotion of medical and nursing history. As President of the ANZSHM she helped restructure the state and federal components of the Society and as a professional historian has promoted the reputation of the Society in the broader worlds of both medicine and history.’
• City of Sydney, voluntary guide Sydney Town Hall Open Day, 2013–14.
• Faculty of Medicine, University of Sydney, volunteer with medical admission interview study, October 2005.
• International Nursing and Midwifery History Conference, Melbourne, Co-convenor, 2004–05 (held August 2005).
• Lucy Osburn-Nightingale Foundation, Member Working Party to arrange exhibition and launch, Sydney Hospital, May 2001.
• Medical History Discussion Group, History & Philosophy of Science Unit, University of Sydney, Member and a session facilitator, 1990s.
• Metascience (Springer journal), Member Editorial Board and book review editor, 2006–09.
• Mission Australia/ Ryde Council, Local History working party, 2007.
• North Shore Historical Society, a judge of essay competition, 2024.
• NSW Society of the History of Medicine, President 1997–99, 2001-03; Chair, 6th Biennial Conference Committee, 1997–99; Executive Committee 1999–2004; Academic Liaison Officer 2004–07; Vice-President 1990s; liaison for the Ben Haneman Memorial Lecture at the State Library of NSW, August 2005.
• Nursing Inquiry (Blackwell refereed journal) Historical Book Review Editor, 2003–08.
• Oral History Association (now Oral History Australia), NSW branch, Committee member 2003–04; member student grants committee, 1995; Judge of student conference grants, 2013-17.
• Professional Historians Australia (NSW & ACT) Membership Officer 2013–16; Expert Advice Panel member 2012–20; Public Officer 2012–14; Newsletter Editorial Committee 1990s, 2004; chair professional development session ‘Making History Pay’, September 2005.
• Queensland Nursing Council, Research Grant External Assessor, 2001–2006.
• Religious History Society of Australia, Secretary, 2003–06.
• The American Association for the History of Nursing and the European Nursing History Group, Scientific Committee member, International Perspectives on Nursing History Conference, London, 2010.
• University of Sydney, Academic Board nominee on Selection Committees, 2004-2006.
• Women and Labour Conference, Macquarie University, Member Organising Committee 1995.
• Women’s Studies Centre, University of Sydney, Committee member, 1990s.
• Ku-ring-gai Historical Society (KHS), Secretary, with extensive volunteer contributions outside of the Secretary’s role including regular articles in its newsletter, organising tours of RNSH Archives and RAHS Library and an archives workshop, articles on behalf of KHS for the local newspaper the Sydney Observer, 2019 – current;
• Ryde District Historical Society, Patron, 2016 – current; Member Publications Committee, 2018 – current.
• Roseville Probus Club, Founding Secretary, 2018-21 with continued membership and contributions to the newsletter 2018 – current.
• Sharing Ideas group (Mosman, North Shore, Willoughby, Ryde District, Ku-ring-gai and Hornsby Historical Societies), founder and member, 2004 – current.
Past contributions
• After Care Association of NSW (now Stride Mental Health), Board member and Psychiatric Support Services Committee member, 1996–98.
• American Association of the History of Nursing, member Research Review Panel, 2011-14.
• Australian College of Nursing (ACN), Nursing History Conference committee member, 2014-15. Life membership awarded by the NSW College of Nursing (now part of the CAN) for contributions of nursing history.
• Australian Historical Association (AHA), Secretary, 1999–2002; Convenor of Visions of the History of Nursing and Visions of the History of Medicine strands at the AHA conference, Newcastle, July 2004; Copyright Agency Ltd’s research student mentor at AHA Conference, Ballarat, July 2016.
• Australian Nursing History Group, Founding member from May 2003 and e-news coordinator; Convenor of the Group’s Visions of the History of Nursing strand at the AHA conference, Newcastle, July 2004.
• Australian Society of the History of Medicine/(from 2005) Australian and New Zealand Society of the History of Medicine, President, 2005–07; Vice-President 2003–2005; Councillor, c.1998 – 2021; Ben Haneman Memorial Postgraduate Student/Early Career Researcher Grants Co-ordinator, 2011–21; Judge for Ben Haneman Memorial Student Prize 2011–15; contributor to Medical History; Chair of Abstract Committee for the 19th Biennial Conference, July 2025. The citation for Life membership was that it was awarded for ‘outstanding contributions to the Society. .. many achievements and contributions to governance, administration, conference organisation, prize and bursary judging, mentoring, and the active promotion of medical and nursing history. As President of the ANZSHM she helped restructure the state and federal components of the Society and as a professional historian has promoted the reputation of the Society in the broader worlds of both medicine and history.’
• City of Sydney, voluntary guide Sydney Town Hall Open Day, 2013–14.
• Faculty of Medicine, University of Sydney, volunteer with medical admission interview study, October 2005.
• International Nursing and Midwifery History Conference, Melbourne, Co-convenor, 2004–05 (held August 2005).
• Lucy Osburn-Nightingale Foundation, Member Working Party to arrange exhibition and launch, Sydney Hospital, May 2001.
• Medical History Discussion Group, History & Philosophy of Science Unit, University of Sydney, Member and a session facilitator, 1990s.
• Metascience (Springer journal), Member Editorial Board and book review editor, 2006–09.
• Mission Australia/ Ryde Council, Local History working party, 2007.
• North Shore Historical Society, a judge of essay competition, 2024.
• NSW Society of the History of Medicine, President 1997–99, 2001-03; Chair, 6th Biennial Conference Committee, 1997–99; Executive Committee 1999–2004; Academic Liaison Officer 2004–07; Vice-President 1990s; liaison for the Ben Haneman Memorial Lecture at the State Library of NSW, August 2005.
• Nursing Inquiry (Blackwell refereed journal) Historical Book Review Editor, 2003–08.
• Oral History Association (now Oral History Australia), NSW branch, Committee member 2003–04; member student grants committee, 1995; Judge of student conference grants, 2013-17.
• Professional Historians Australia (NSW & ACT) Membership Officer 2013–16; Expert Advice Panel member 2012–20; Public Officer 2012–14; Newsletter Editorial Committee 1990s, 2004; chair professional development session ‘Making History Pay’, September 2005.
• Queensland Nursing Council, Research Grant External Assessor, 2001–2006.
• Religious History Society of Australia, Secretary, 2003–06.
• The American Association for the History of Nursing and the European Nursing History Group, Scientific Committee member, International Perspectives on Nursing History Conference, London, 2010.
• University of Sydney, Academic Board nominee on Selection Committees, 2004-2006.
• Women and Labour Conference, Macquarie University, Member Organising Committee 1995.
• Women’s Studies Centre, University of Sydney, Committee member, 1990s.
Teaching
I have training and experience as a teacher in special education, high schools (English/History), and at the University of Sydney. I have given frequent guest lectures and successfully taught at all levels from first year undergraduate to supervising students at doctoral level.
I am an experienced thesis examiner, mostly at doctoral level. The most recent theses I have examined are from Macquarie University, the Universities of Manchester, Auckland, Sydney, Queensland, the Australian Catholic University, and the University of New England.
Publications
For details of Judith’s publications click here.
Public Speaker
For details of Judith’s teaching and speaking speaking engagements click here.