Commemorating and celebrating nurses and midwives in public art

Note: this article includes the image and story of a deceased First Nations woman.

It’s been a point of contention for some time that Victoria has more public statues of animals than of women. The Victorian Women’s Public Art Program aims to address this under-representation of women and their achievements, and as part of its 2025 commission it will commemorate Louisa Briggs, a trailblazing Aboriginal rights leader, midwife and nurse.

Separately, a Department of Veterans Affairs’ grant has supported the recent installation of a bust of World War 1 nurse Sister Edith Yeaman in Montrose – the first public statue of a nurse in Victoria.

Louisa Briggs

Louisa advocated for the rights of displaced First Nations peoples taken to government reserves and stations in the late 1800s. She is recognised as one of the five ancestors from whom Boonwurrung heritage can be traced. The Bunurong Boonwurrung peoples are the Traditional Custodians of the lands across the southern suburbs of Melbourne/Naarm, and around the Mornington Peninsula, Westernport and South-West Gippsland.

Born in 1836, Louisa was abducted by sealers as a young child. After surviving years of forced labour as a seal hunter, she returned to her country with her husband, John Briggs. With their children, Louisa and John eventually settled at Coranderrk Aboriginal Station where she worked as a nurse and midwife and later became the first Aboriginal woman to be paid as a midwife.

An outspoken advocate for First Nations rights, Lousia was an activist at a time when the government and its agencies enforced assimilation policies and excluded biracial people. She protested against the poor treatment of Aboriginal people on the government reserves and sent letters to officials about the low wages and lack of rations. She was repeatedly punished for her activism, and was expelled from Coranderrk several times, often for criticising the station’s administration.

Louisa died in 1925 aged nearly 100. She will be commemorated with a permanent public sculpture on the St Kilda/Elwood foreshore.

The sculpture project is a partnership between the City of Port Phillip and the Boonwurrung Land and Sea Council, led by N’arwee’t Carolyn Briggs, a direct descendant of Louisa. It will celebrate her significant contributions to the Indigenous community and their history. The sculpture will serve as a powerful symbol of resilience, cultural heritage and the ongoing fight for social justice.

The sculpture will be funded by the Victorian Women’s Public Art Program, which has previously supported a statue of Zelda D’Aprano – a unionist, feminist and activist – which was erected in 2023 at the Victorian Trades Hall, facing Lygon Street.

Sister Edith Yeaman

Born in 1884 in Elmore, north-east of Bendigo, Edith was raised in Montrose from the age of 11. After completing her schooling, she became a nurse and in 1915 she enlisted with the Australian Army Nursing Service (AANS).

Initially posted to a hospital ship in the Aegean Sea, where she cared for many soldiers wounded at Gallipoli, Edith later served in field hospitals in Egypt, England and France. In recognition of her service, she was awarded the British War Medal and Victory Medal.

After the war, Edith continued to nurse at a Montrose rest home before eventually relocating to Sydney where she established a private hospital.

Edith died in 1963.

Edith’s bronze bust was officially unveiled on Sunday 18 May 2025, in the ‘Nurses who Served’ garden next to the Montrose war memorial.

The ‘Nurses who Served’ garden was an initiative of the Montrose Men’s Shed, which with the Montrose Township Group and the Yarra Ranges Council also helped to secure money for Edith’s statue from the Department of Veterans Affairs’ Saluting Their Service program.

Talking to Channel 7 news, Men’s Shed member Max Lamb said ‘we really do need to recognise the nurses as well as the soldiers. Hopefully now, people are starting to realise what a magnificent job the nurses did.’

In a Facebook post, the Montrose Township Group says the bust honours Edith’s ‘courage and sacrifice, and that of all nurses who have served in war, conflict, peacekeeping, and humanitarian missions. And those who continue to serve today.’

The statue complements two existing nurse plaques in the garden.

Along with members and staff, ANMF (Vic Branch) Acting Secretary Madeleine Harradence attended the unveiling of Sister Yeaman’s bust on 18 May.