By Charlene Macaulay
When Werribee South’s Margaret Vawser signed up for nurses’ college in Hamilton, little did she know she would be forging both a career and lifelong friendships.
Mrs Vawser, who grew up in Portland, trained for three years at Glenelg Base Hospital, earning 39 shillings a fortnight.
As an on-site lodger, she quickly formed strong friendships with the other nurses-in-training.
“Because we all lived together, we all counselled each other,” she said. “You could come off an evening ward and we’d all sympathise with each other and talk it through.
“We were more or less kept together and the girls that you worked with, they became like sisters, like family.”
After graduating in 1960, Mrs Vawser worked at Portland Hospital, then moved to North Queensland after marrying her husband, Peter.
The family moved to Hoppers Crossing in the 1970s when Peter got a work transfer.
Mrs Vawser became charge nurse of the Werribee day hospital, a rehabilitation unit based at the Masonic Hall.
Following a fundraiser, a 30-bed nursing home and a purpose-built day hospital was built, and it was there Mrs Vawser worked until the site was decommissioned. Werribee Mercy Hospital opened and she retired.
Throughout her career, Mrs Vawser would regularly catch-up with the other nurses in her graduating year. The catch-ups were “a bit spasmodic” in the first couple of decades, as the women juggled careers and families.
But for the past 30 years, they’ve caught up on the third weekend each March.
This year, the nurse’s annual catch-up will take place in Werribee and will include outings to the State Rose Garden and Werribee Mansion, as well as meals at The Views and Master Wok.
