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The Gertrude Berger Award is presented each year to an Enrolled/Division 2 nurse who is a member of Royal College of Nursing, Australia (RCNA).

 

 

Gertrude Berger was born in Berlin in 1913, the only child of German-Jewish parents.She trained as a nurse at a Jewish General Hospital in the early 1930s, but as persecution of the Jews increased and World War II began looming, Gertrude made the decision to flee to England in 1939.

Gertrude’s mother had died in the early ‘30s and her father, an engineer, was working in Singapore. During the war he was transferred to a camp for enemy aliens at Tatura in central Victoria. Gertrude made her own way to Australia to be reuinted with her father once the war was over.

She began working in Melbourne as a staff midwife and remained there until 1955 when she became a Nurse Educator at Prince Henry’s Hospital, a position she held until 1966. She then became the Education Officer at the Victorian Nursing Council before retiring in 1973.

In 1985, in recognition of her outstanding contribution to nursing, an annual Gertrude Berger Nursing Award was established in Victoria to enable Victorian Fellows of the College of Nursing (later RCNA) to work on projects that helped further the nursing profession. In 1986 the College bestowed an honorary fellowship on Gertrude, and in 1996 established the annual Gertrude Berger Oration.
Gertrude Berger died in 2006 at the age of 92.

The award consists of: 

 

• A return airfare from the succesful applicant’s  usual place of residence to the Royal College of Nursing, Australia’s 2008 Conference
• Conference registration
• Accommodation at the conference venue
• A framed certificate of the award
• Presentation of the award during the conference

Applicants must be: 

 

• Members of RCNA
• Able to cover any costs over and above scholarship support (eg meals)
• Committed to providing a written report of  attendance to RCNA with a view to publication

Closing Date:

This scheme is now closed. Applicants will be notified of the outcome of their application by end June 2008