A group of nurses have returned to where it all began to swap stories about their lives and careers.
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Most of the ACU Aquinas Bachelor of Nursing class of 1993 are still in the profession, in varying positions and locations across Australia and overseas. On the weekend more than 45 of the 65 nursing graduates returned to Ballarat for a reunion three decades after their graduation.
One of their first stops was back where they gained the knowledge to step out into nursing, with a tour of ACU with campus dean Professor Bridget Aitchison and some current nursing students to get an insight into how things have changed.
"Most are still in nursing and it's amazing that everyone has done such varied things through their careers," said reunion organiser Carmel Eccles.
"There's quite a few still at the bedside and direct patient care, a working with patients in the community, some have gone on to do midwifery, quite a few have gone in to research, others into management ... some travelling around Australia, some have gone into education," Ms Eccles said.
Ms Eccles herself has been seconded from a nursing role to help design and equip the new Alfred Health Paula Fox Melanoma and Cancer Centre in Melbourne.
During their studies, as the last government-funded group of nurses in the transition from training nurses in hospitals to training at university, many of the class lived together at ACU's Camillus residences in Gillies Street.
"For a large group of us we moved out of home at 17, 18, 19 and it was our first time being out of home," she said.
"A lot of us formed life-long friendships together living out of home for the first time. You have to get life skills, do your own washing, shopping, cooking and grow up quickly so the people you live with become your family."
Many of that group have remained close friends over the decades.
"Through weddings, through children, through miscarriage, through deaths, through divorce, through break-ups, through affairs ... we have supported each other and been around for each other," Ms Eccles said.
But there are others too who they had not seen since graduation but returned to catch up for the milestone reunion.
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Reunion organisers managed to contact 60 of the original class of 65 and there were many who travelled hundreds or thousands of kilometres to Ballarat from Benalla, Mildura, Alice Springs, Melbourne and further afield, as well as some who still live and work here.
"We are so grateful we got this certificate that has allowed us to explore the world and achieve so much in life, to get paid for it, give back to the community and make life-long friends," Ms Eccles said.
"We really want to promote that nursing is such an amazing profession."
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