Welcome to the website for Northern District School of Nursing Graduates Association.
(Please follow the links above to navigate around the website)
The Northern District School of Nursing ( NDSN ) commenced in March 1950 and continued until 1989 when students entered the tertiary sector.
The Northern District School of Nursing was the first regional training school for nurses to be
established in Australia.
It operated from March 1950 to August 1989 with 108 schools of students being educated to become trained nurses.
The school provided a theoretical instruction program by way of structured study blocks, following this, the student nurses returned to their training hospitals to work in designated areas to gain appropriate practical experience.
On successfully completing three years training, students passed out as Graduates of their Training Hospital. The exceptions to this were the Pilot Groups who were students of the School and became Graduates of the Northern District School of Nursing.
This method of training was the forerunner to College based education as it now exists.
Nancy Winifred Long MBE (30 August 1918 – 02 March 1986) was the Foundation Dean of the Northern School of Nursing. You can learn more about Nancy and her career here.