The Bush Nurse Association was formed in Lightning Ridge in 1914, the eleventh unit of 119 over the next 60 years in NSW. Nurse Price, the first nurse, served until 1916 and lived at the Imperial Hotel (Diggers Rest in 2005).
Volunteers built the Cottage Hospital over six months 1915 to 16 but it could not be furnished until 1917. Medical services were offered in the front room of the building and the nurse lived in the back two rooms.
This community-supported medical service brought confidence to people on the opal fields. Women joined their opal mining men in the dusty village, and strength developed that brings us into the 21st century. Fifty nurses served in the community over the next sixty years. The NSW Health Commission gobbled the BNA scheme up in January 1975.
Today, the restored 1915 Cottage Hospital stands on the historical reserve in Morilla Street and serves as a tribute to all bush nurses. A new photo exhibition is revealed each Good Friday for locals and the coming season of visitors.
The Nurse Lucy display in the front windows is an expanding exhibit of associated paraphernalia. She served the community from 1919 to 1921 and has pride of place. Hannah Lucy left to join the Sisters of Mercy as Mary Audrey, and later became the first matron at Mater's Maternity Hospital of Brisbane in 1960.
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