Australian Dictionary of Biography

Nellie Lester, c. 1940s

Family photograph

Nellie Lester (1924–1989), nurse, was born on 24 October 1924 at Granite Downs, a cattle station in northern South Australia, third of seven children of Charles Lester, dingo-scalper (later pastoralist), and Kuma, a Yankunytjatjara woman. Her siblings—Emily, Linda, Raymond, Grace, Colin, and Lester—were all born at Granite Downs. In 1928 Charles sent Emily and Linda to Colebrook Home, a United Aborigines Mission (UAM) facility for Aboriginal children at Quorn. Emily and Linda visited Granite Downs in 1929 and when they returned to Colebrook, Nellie went with them. Later, their younger siblings would join them at the home, their father paying for them to be there.

The UAM felt that Aboriginal children, especially those of mixed descent, should be ‘rescued’ to prevent their exposure to the ‘wrong type of Aborigines’ (Jacobs, Laurence, and Thomas 1988, 146). It was further committed to the idea that Aboriginal children, once removed from the ‘undesirable’ influences of their family, could be turned into ‘civilised Christians’ (Jacobs, Laurence, and Thomas 1988, 146) and assimilated into white society. Notwithstanding this philosophy, Colebrook provided a stable and seemingly happy environment. Established in 1927, it was run by the same two women, nurses Delia Rutter and Ruby Hyde, for twenty-five years. The Colebrook children were trained in domestic duties and were taught to be industrious and disciplined. They attended Quorn Public School and were readily accepted by the school community. An excellent student, Lester received honours in spelling and arithmetic in 1935 and 1936, was dux in Grade 6, and a class leader in Grade 7. In 1938 she commenced at Quorn High School, becoming the first Colebrook resident to go there.

Aboriginal girls raised in institutions had limited prospects: most would become domestic servants or wives. Lester wanted more. After leaving school in 1940, she worked as an assistant teacher at the UAM school at Ooldea. Her ultimate goal was to train as a nurse, but this was not possible in South Australia at that time. Lois (Lowitja) O’Donoghue, another former Colebrook resident, would become the first Aboriginal person to train as a nurse at the Royal Adelaide Hospital in 1954. To achieve her dream of ‘nursing amongst her own people’ (South Australia 1943, 1), Lester would have to move interstate. In 1943 the UAM successfully petitioned the South Australian Aborigines Protection Board to allow her to train as a nurse at the Salvation Army’s Bethesda Hospital at Richmond, Victoria. She received a certificate of limited exemption from the provisions of the South Australian Aborigines Act enabling her to travel.

The UAM maintained contact with Lester while she was living in Melbourne, inviting her to perform at the annual meeting of its Federal Council in 1944. She sang ‘with perfect intonation’ (United Aborigines’ Messenger 1944, 6) and was invited back in 1945. The UAM’s ongoing interest in Lester was familial but also proprietary: it was grateful to the Salvation Army for giving her the opportunity to fulfil her ambition, especially when other ‘hospitals would not at that time do so,’ but it made it clear that she was one of ‘one of our girls’ (United Aborigines’ Messenger 1946, 5).

After passing her final nursing examination in 1945, Lester returned to Colebrook Home, which had relocated to Eden Hills, South Australia, for a short holiday and to help Rutter and Hyde with the younger children. Triumphantly announcing her return, the Adelaide News reported that she was ‘the first half-caste girl in South Australia to become a fully qualified nurse and is believed to be the only one in Australia’ (News 1946, 3).

In 1946 Lester completed further training in midwifery at the McBride Maternity Hospital, Medindie, and Queen Victoria Maternity Hospital, Rose Park, enhancing her trail-blazer status by becoming the ‘first half-caste girl in South Australia—and probably in Australia—to gain [a] double nursing certificate’ (Mail 1947, 3). She gained a third certificate in infectious diseases in 1947 after training at the Northfield Infectious Diseases Hospital. Quietly spoken and said to have ‘a cultivated accent’ (News 1946, 3), she worked at the Gumeracha District Soldiers’ Memorial Hospital (1949–50), then at the Port Augusta Hospital (1950–53). In September 1953 she joined the Commonwealth Public Service, Repatriation Department, and moved to Heidelberg, Victoria.

Lester’s sister Linda, a member of the Women’s Auxiliary Air Force during World War II, had worked as a hospital assistant at the Heidelberg Repatriation Hospital since the end of the war. Nellie joined her there as a charge sister. On 14 February 1959 she married James Joseph Nihill, brother of Vincent, Linda’s husband of ten years. They would have two children. As required under the Public Services Act, she retired from the public service on the day of her marriage. She continued working part-time at local nursing homes, but otherwise performed home duties until her death on 3 February 1989 at Macleod.

In 2005, in the South Australian House of Assembly, the minister for health Lea Stevens acknowledged Nihill as a pioneer and role model in the field of nursing for Aboriginal women. Nihill’s sister Grace Sopar, who had followed her into nursing in the 1950s, was also named, along with Linda Jackson, Lowitja O’Donoghue, Muriel Olsson, Faith Thomas, and Margaret Lawrie.

Odette Best (Yugambeh, Goreng Goreng, Boonthamurra/Punthamara) and Abby Slinger (Wiradjuri) co-wrote the article, with assistance from Nellie’s son, Chris Nihill. The final article was approved by Nellie’s family.