Book Review
An unsentimental union, the NSW nurses association, 1931-1992
Mary Dickenson
ISBN: 978-0868065151; 1993; 352 pages; Hale & Iremonger Pty Ltd;
Angela Cushing
Honorary Research Advisor, School of Nursing & Midwifery, University of Queensland, Ipswich Campus, Ipswich QLD
Dickenson, in the preface, offers several reasons for the purpose of this work. First, to view the development of the NSWNA through a study of its leadership rather than 'through the eyes of the rank and file members'. The reason being that nurses have relied heavily on their leaders for the achievement of industrial objectives. Second, to demonstrate that nurses only become members of the union for pragmatic reasons and not because they are driven by any emotive or ideological cause. In regard to these rationales it is difficult to separate the historical facts from Dickenson's own intentions for writing the book.
It appears that the author has been trapped between the reason for desiring to write a history from 'above' which will illuminate the leadership of the union, and the need to proudly present the rank and file members as contributing to the growth and strength of the organization. Ironically, the fact that Dickenson has called the work An unsentimental union places the rank and file in centre stage and is in sharp contrast to the stated aim of presenting the history of the NSWNA through an investigation of its leadership. On one level the tension in this work lies between the ideological call of democracy as reflected in the members' will to have a voice, and the oligarchic element's drive for power and control.
More significantly, on another level, it is an account of the history of nurses and the profession couched in the framework of Australian politics. The leadership battles in the development of the ATNA and the subsequent NSWNA are narrated within the dynamics of the Australian politics of the left and the right. An unsentimental union, the NSW Nurses Association, 1931-1992 comprises 15 chapters and these trace the origin and development of the New South Wales Nurses Association from 1931 to 1992 as the title suggests. However, all the chapters contain such a plethora of detail that it makes it difficult for the reader, at times, to readily grasp the reasons for such minute particulars. For instance, in Chapters 1 and 2 what is Dickenson really attempting to achieve? The account notes the founding of the Australasian Trained Nurses Association and provides numerous vignettes abouts its history up to the time of the formation of NSWNA in early 1931.
Essentially, these chapters are about the struggle to establish the ATNA, the dominance of the medical profession in the executive and in the nurses journal, the struggle to gain state registration in 1931, the rivalry between the ATNA and the Royal Victorian Nurses Association, the strong influence of the anti-left leadership in the ATNA and finally the influence of the educated left in the governing of the rank and file members of the NSWNA.
In relation to Chapters 1 and 2, it may be ultimately inferred that once the meandering is completed, the author is providing a reason for saying that prior to state registration in 1924 in New South Wales, the ATNA was the only body to which the employee nurse could turn for information about rights in the workplace. Although, many nurses may well not have sought advice from that body because of the prevailing influence of the ideals of service, sacrifice, vocation and devotedness to the sick. Moreover, the author is commenting on two other subsidiary aspects to the performance of the ATNA.
First, the blindness of the ATNA to the implications that state registration held for reduced membership. Second, how, once again, the sense of commitment to service and to the sick and infirm meant that the ATNA retreated from involvement when the threat of union activity, as manifested in the Hospital Empoyees Association (HEA) efforts to recruit nurses to its organization appeared in the 1920s and early 1930s. This retreat of the ATNA resulted in the triumph of the left and the formation of the New South Wales Nurses Association. It must be concluded that the attempt to fulfil the stated intentions of this work is often erratic largely because of style, and often the historical links are overtly absent.
Indeed, frequently the text demands that the material allocated to the footnotes needed to be incorporated. For instance, in Chapter 1, there is an excursus into the attempts to gain state registration between 1909 and the final achievement in 1924. The inclusion of chronological information which appears in footnotes 13 and 18 pertaining to this achievement would have been worthwhile. The importance of highlighting the chronology is explained by the following remarks. Dickenson (p 27) notes that the Government always acknowledged the valuable role played by the ATNA each time bills for registration were introduced, but what is not explained is that the ANF formed in May 1924 and the Government's recognition of nurses in the state registration bill of September of the same year may have been linked.
The inference to be drawn is that once a federal body was constituted by the ATNA the government may have perceived a more serious attempt to serve the interests of nurses and a concerted effort to achieve a degree of unification in the nursing profession. Thus, once the Australian Nursing Federation was established in early 1924, it seemed futile for the government to any longer deny state registration to nurses and the enhancment of the standards of the profession that this would bring. Hence by September of the same year the Government acquiesced. Or again, sections in Chapter 9 also offer examples where the author needed to more clearly explain connections. Connections needed to be articulated between the creation of the New South Wales College of Nursing and the establishment of post basic courses and the leaps back and forth from the nud-1930s to 1960 vis-a-vis the NSWNA efforts to gain representation on the state's Nurses Registration Board.
The content of the book is often poorly organized and this is exemplified by the numerous digressions and lack of clear connections. As well there are numerous historiographical shortcomings which a political history based on primary sources would have endeavoured to overcome. The presence of these elements make the book difficult to read. Many of the book's shortcomings may be explained by the fact that it is a very ambitious study. Another look at the practicalities of locating much of the material in a better suited structure, for example, in 'parts' rather than only chapters and in a better created chronological framework would have greatly assisted in sharpening the focus on the content.
It is a work which represents a laudable attempt to collate main stream information relevant to the history of nursing's industrial relations. Furthermore, because of the numerous name changes that professional nursing organizations have undergone; changes which reflect the evolution of the industrial history of the profession in Australia, the author has thoughtfully included a valuable chronological list of abbreviations for the organizations. This book is well worth the effort to read and will be an indispensable reference to future scholars intent on investigating nursing's past and contemporary industrial relations.
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