Florence Nightingale, in 1868, in answer to an appeal from Henry Parkes, Premier of New South Wales sent Lucy Osburn along with 5 other nursing sisters to take charge of the Infirmary.
Quote from Board of Directors in 1853
“What would this City, what would the Colony do without the Sydney Infirmary and Dispensary; where would the unhappy Victims of Disease meet with relief of cure? What doors would be open for the houseless stranger, or the sons and daughters of poverty, suffering under acute and dangerous disease? Day and night its gates are open for the reception of all who are thrown into jeopardy by accidents, and the best advice of the most skilful Medical men, and the best of treatment are secured for them. If there be one benevolent Institution more deserving of support than another it is this ...”
A portable hospital which was prefabricated in England from wood and copper arrived in Sydney with the Second Fleet in 1790.
In 1993-5 the museum was re-developed as the Sydney Mint Museum, focussing on the impact of the Gold Rush years on New South Wales and the role of The Mint as a coining factory.
Ms Osburn was described by her successor at SydneyHospital, Miss McKay, as "an exceptional woman" who regarded nursing "as the highest employment" to be entered with "a spirit of devotion".
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