Australian Dictionary of Biography

First year nurse Sylvia Curley, c. 1917.

Courtesy of ACT Historic Places

Sylvia Mary Sophia Curley (1898–1999), nurse, businesswoman, and heritage campaigner, was born Sylvy Mary Sophy Curley on 8 November 1898 at Duntroon, near Queanbeyan, New South Wales, second of three daughters of New South Wales-born parents Patrick Curley, tenant farmer, and his wife Annie Elizabeth, née Tong, housemaid. The Curley sisters were close-knit and spent their childhood on the Duntroon estate, where their parents were employed by the Campbell family. Sylvia attended Canberra Public School, adjacent to St John the Baptist Church, and in March 1913 she was among those who attended the official ceremony for the naming of Canberra. The same year, after part of the Duntroon estate was resumed for the Royal Military College, the Curleys moved to nearby Mugga Mugga, where they lived in a stone cottage in relative isolation.

After finishing school, Curley trained as a nurse at Goulburn District Hospital, before passing the Australasian Trained Nurses’ Association’s examination in mid-1925. She then worked as a graduate nurse at Leeton District Hospital and as a theatre sister at Narrandera Hospital (1929). Following a brief appointment as a nurse at Cranbrook School, Sydney, and a period caring for her ailing father at Mugga Mugga, she was appointed matron of Gundagai and District Hospital in late 1932. Never afraid to challenge authority, and holding strong views about patient care, nurse training, and working conditions, she worked hard to improve hospital hygiene, upgrade the operating theatre, and deliver high quality meals to patients. In 1937 a visiting matron observed that ‘the whole institution shrieks efficiency … [it is] a magnificent hospital guided by a matron whose very being says capability, efficiency and sympathy’ (Gundagai Independent 1937, 1). In July 1937 Curley commenced midwifery training at Royal North Shore Hospital, Sydney. Soon after returning to Gundagai in June 1938, she resigned.

In late 1938 Curley was appointed senior sister at the Canberra Community Hospital, but on arrival found that the matron had been dismissed and several nurses had resigned in protest. Morale was low and Curley, who was effectively placed in an acting deputy matron position, often had disputes with senior administration as a result of her uncompromising approach to her job. Although she was strict and single-minded in her efforts to uphold the highest standards of nursing, her kindness was legendary among junior nurses, some of whom fondly called her ‘Curl.’

Following her mother’s death in April 1948, Curley took three days of compassionate leave, during which she received a directive not to resume work, as a new deputy matron had been appointed. She ignored the instruction and returned to the hospital. The Hospital Employees’ Federation immediately protested the new appointment, arguing that Curley had been acting in the role for nearly a decade, and by overlooking her, the Hospital Board had acted unjustly and discriminated against her due to her involvement in the establishment of a Canberra branch of the Australian Nurses’ Federation. The Hospital Board, in defending its actions, claimed that she ‘did not have the “flair” for controlling staff’ and was ‘unsuited temperamentally’ (Canberra Times 1948, 2). She denied these accusations and her appeal to the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) Industrial Board was successful, resulting in her being appointed as deputy matron.

Conflicts between Curley and the board continued, but she remained a dedicated worker. Nurse education had always been especially important to her and in 1955 she spent four months in New Zealand on a self-funded trip to study nursing issues and recruitment at hospitals. Two years later she helped to establish a school of nursing at Canberra Community Hospital, and in 1961 she spent several months visiting hospitals in Britain, Canada, United States of America, and New Zealand. She also served on the Nurses Registration Board of the ACT (1957–66) and was a foundation member of the Canberra and District Historical Society and the Business and Professional Women’s Club of Canberra (1954). In 1963 a new nurses’ home beside the hospital was named Sylvia Curley House in her honour.

On her retirement in December 1966, Curley refused to apply for the aged pension, instead establishing the Sylvia Curley Employment Centre (later Agency), which specialised in providing nursing and administrative staff for medical practices. She selected and trained staff, emphasising efficiency, appearance, and confidentiality. In 1985 her sister Evelyn died, with a final wish that her sisters act to save Mugga Mugga. The following year, Curley closed her business and dedicated herself to the preservation of the cottage and its surrounding land. She also did research into her family history and would later publish a memoir, A Long Journey (1998).

Over many years, Curley successfully lobbied the ACT government to accept the transfer of the Mugga Mugga lease, which was formally handed over in 1995. Her tactics were practised and relentless, ranging from persistent telephone calls to long afternoon teas with tiny crustless sandwiches and fine china. She guided the preservation of her childhood home as a house museum, providing detailed descriptions of household activities and lively stories of early Canberra. Her energetic appeals for both private and community funding also enabled the construction of an education centre on the property.

In 1992 Curley was awarded the OAM. Five years later, Sylvia Curley House was demolished alongside the Canberra Community Hospital to much public controversy. In 1998 the ACT government announced that they would rename the Dairy Flat Bridge over the Molonglo River the Sylvia Curley Bridge. She died soon after on 24 March 1999 in Calvary Hospital and was buried in the Riverside cemetery, Queanbeyan, with her sisters, brother-in-law, and parents.

A woman of quiet dignity, well-known for her dogged determination and commitment to fairness and honesty, Curley was described as ‘a Canberra icon’ (ACT LA 1998, 2777). In her later years, her memory, attention to detail, and enthusiasm for life continued undiminished; so too did her Catholicism, which remained an important part of her life. The journalist Jack Waterford remembered her as ‘an adorable browbeater’ with ‘more energy in a smaller body than anyone I ever knew’ (1999, 2). In the early 2000s the ACT Historic Places established the Sylvia Curley Oration, and in 2006 her name was added to the ACT Honour Walk.