Marjorie Davidson jokes that she still has nightmares about not having a clean nursing uniform to wear to work.
She started nursing in 1959 and worked in various strands of the profession for almost 60 years until she retired in her mid-70s.
Caring for the sick and assisting people with a disability book-ended her career. In between, Marjorie spent her time and money supporting people battling drug addiction. This is some of her story.
A career in nursing
Marjorie, who lives at the Carinity Clifford House aged care home in Brisbane, marvels at how much nursing practices have changed - and is astounded by modern medical and technological advances.
She trained for and commenced her own career in general nursing in Bendigo.
"It was just at the end of the polio epidemic, and we still had all the iron lungs in place in the hospital," Marjorie recalls.
"In the infectious disease part of the hospital they were still admitting people with tuberculosis and meningitis.
"The first job you had to do on an afternoon shift was to scrub the inside of this massive copper container until it was shiny.
"It was about ten times the size of a cement mixer and was where they put all the infected linen, so nobody wanted to work in infectious diseases!"
Nursing in Papua New Guinea
Her next adventure saw Marjorie and her husband Alan move to Papua New Guinea and work in a region with no roads and infrastructure.
For 17 years, Marjorie cared for people who had ailments ranging from malaria and chest infections, to skin diseases and leg ulcers.
"It was a very isolated area with clouds of mosquitoes day and night and crocodiles. Almost every shift somebody died, and often two people died," she said.
Changes in nursing
Marjorie believes the biggest change in nursing she witnessed was the advent of disposable needles.
"It was a major breakthrough because previously we had to re-use needles and sterilise them. To sterilise things in the tropical heat I had to stoke up a wood stove to boil them. My husband used to sharpen the needles for me."
Marjorie feels for today's hospital nurses who deal with rude or abusive patients, which has increased in recent years.
"In general nursing everyone was treated with so much respect in those times, and you never came across anyone being abusive. Now it seems that it's about one in 20 people - that's how extensive the abuse is."
Upon returning to Australia in the 1980s, Marjorie's attention turned to aged care and maternity nursing. She took a role as night supervisor of a 600-bed hospital for the aged in Bendigo, then worked in maternity wards and nursing homes on the Gold Coast.
"Now in aged care it's much better because when I worked, we didn't have any hoists to lift residents. There are a lot of things now which are very helpful," Marjorie said.
Support for addicts
Inspired by their son being in a rehabilitation centre, Marjorie and Alan later began looking after young people affected by drugs. Marjorie worked multiple jobs, including in a chocolate shop and school supplies business, to fund the endeavour.
The Davidsons supported about 400 young people on their own property at Highfields - at their own considerable expense. Eventually they set up the Teen Challenge New Life Centre in Toowoomba, which for 25 years has supported people experiencing alcohol and other drug concerns.
"We worked with about 2,000 parents from all over Australia. I don't know how they got our number, but they would ring us. As a result, our phone bill was about $6,000 a quarter," Marjorie explains.
"It was a very shameful thing these people felt, but they were able to confide in me because they couldn't talk to anyone else about it. We were a shoulder for them to cry on, and we were able to advise them how to handle it and what to do."
While she was almost at the age at which most people retire from work, Marjorie still yearned to help others in her community.
She finished up gaining qualifications to work in disability care, which she undertook with Uniting Care in Toowoomba for 15 years before retiring a decade ago - at the age of 75.
"I would have kept going only my knees gave in."
