Australian Dictionary of Biography

Gwendoline Elizabeth Sims (1902-1986), occupational therapist, was born on 8 April 1902 at Landport, Portsmouth, England, one of four children of Percy William Sims, engine-room artificer in the Royal Navy, and his wife Margaret Alice, née Owens. In 1912 Percy Sims transferred to the Royal Australian Navy and in 1919 the family settled at Chatswood, Sydney. Gwendoline looked after her ailing mother, who died in 1939, before embarking on a career.

An accomplished artist, Sims was attracted to the fledgling profession of occupational therapy and in 1941 became the first person in Australia to formally qualify as an occupational therapist. Her diploma was awarded by the Australian Physiotherapy Association (New South Wales) which, she later stated, ‘gave prestige to our untried and unproven profession’. Nevertheless, the association was unwilling to allow membership to occupational therapists and in 1944 Sims proposed that an occupational therapists’ club be formed. It was the progenitor of the Australian Association of Occupational Therapists, established in the following year; Sims was a founding member and its first treasurer. A prime mover in federating State bodies under the umbrella of the AAOT, she served (1966-75) on the council of the New South Wales branch and as senior vice-president.

Sims first worked part time at St Vincent’s Hospital before taking up a full-time position (1942-66) at the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, where she took charge of occupational therapy. She was responsible for the practical training of students and for establishing occupational therapy as a component in rehabilitation teams. In this period the focus of the profession changed from craft activities to functional skills needed in daily living. In 1968 she helped set up a rehabilitation centre at Chatswood and in 1972-75 was occupational therapist at the Lottie Stewart Hospital, Dundas.

Thought of as the ‘mother’ of occupational therapy in Australia, Sims contributed to the development of clinical practice, particularly by gaining the recognition and support of the medical profession. In 1966 she gave the first Sylvia Docker lecture. Looking to the future, she identified the need for occupational therapists to engage in teaching, administration and research; also she hoped that more men would be attracted to the field in order to improve salaries and conditions.

A very private person, Sims lived with her sister at Lindfield. Although formal in her professional relationships and firm with the young women she supervised, she was regarded fondly by her associates, who remembered her ‘as a concerned and loving friend’. She died on 19 October 1986 at Hornsby and was cremated. In 1988 the Gwendoline Sims memorial award was established to further self-education and professional advancement of occupational therapists practising in Australia.