Sister Mildred Symons was an Australian nurse. She was a pioneer in the aged care sector in New South Wales, and set up the Chesalon Aged Care homes in Sydney. She was also responsible for the establishment of the Parish Nursing Service.
Life After working for a number of years for the Sydney City Council, Symons left to train as a nurse at the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital in Sydney, followed by training in midwifery at The Women's Hospital in Crown Street, Sydney in 1933.Address Given by the Venerable RG Fillingham at the Service of Thanksgiving for Mildred Alexandra Symons (MBE) in St Andrews Cathedral Sydney, 22 July 1970, types manuscript copy of address. She was an active member of the Australian Nurses' Christian Movement and after training worked at a private hospital where she became acting matron. Around 1937 she joined the nursing staff of the 'Bush Aid Society' and served in hospitals in Ceduna, Cook, Penong, and Tarcoola up until 1942. As the clergyman at Tarcoola left to work as a war chaplin she took on responsibility for the school and Sunday services. Around 1943 she returned to Sydney to care for her mother and father and it was this experience that led her to set up a nursing service for sick and elderly who had no one to care for them.
Parish Nursing Service and The Chesalon Nursing Home In 1944 she formed the Church of England Parish Nursing Service and The Chesalon Nursing Home to accomplish this goal. She was paid a salary of four pounds a week to travel on foot and by public transport to sponge, inject, and give treatments to people across Sydney parishes."Real Christmas cheer" The Australian Women's Weekly (1933–1982) 4 December 1957: 30. Web. 28 July 2025 <http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article48530599> She set up the first Chesalon Nursing home in Summer Hill, Sydney on 30 November 1952.C.W.A. NOTES (1961, November 1). Windsor and Richmond Gazette (NSW : 1888–1971), p. 11. Retrieved July 28, 2025, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article266700189 By 1956 the service employed 24 nurses and made 13,600 visits to the homes of the aged and sick unable to afford normal nursing care. By the time of her death there was a Chesalon Nursing Home at Summer Hill, Harris Park,A good turn for Chesalon (1962, May 30). The Cumberland Argus (Parramatta, NSW : 1950–1962), p. 1. Retrieved July 28, 2025, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article131327189New home to care for aged, sick (1961, October 18). The Cumberland Argus (Parramatta, NSW : 1950–1962), p. 3. Retrieved July 28, 2025, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article131328345 Eastwood, Beecroft, Chatswood, Woonona and Westmead.NEW SOUTH WALES NURSES REGISTRATION BOARD (1968, December 13). Government Gazette of the State of New South Wales (Sydney, NSW : 1901–2001), p. 4940. Retrieved July 28, 2025, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article220038889 In 1963 Queen Elizabeth awarded her the Member of the Order of the British Empire.Government Gazette Notices (1963, January 17). Commonwealth of Australia Gazette (National : 1901–1973), p. 223. Retrieved July 28, 2025, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article241011549 There is an Anglicare aged care facility named in her honour in Jannali, Sydney. Symons died in London on 10 July 1970 aged 64.
References
Further reading ON THE SPOT (1960, June 1). The Cumberland Argus (Parramatta, NSW : 1950–1962), p. 14. Retrieved July 28, 2025 from