| Birth Date: | 10 November 1887 |
| Birth Place: | Penrith, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia |
| Death Date: | 4 November 1974 |
| Death Place: | Roseville, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia |
| Occupation: | Nurse and trade unionist |
Evelyn Grace Ione Nowland (18871974) was an Australian nurse and trade unionist.[1] She was the founder of New South Wales Nurses and Midwives' Association.[2]
Nowland was born on 10 November 1887 in Penrith, New South Wales. Her parents were Edward Joseph Byrnes Clare Nowland, a carriage-builder from Cape Town, South Africa, and his wife Marie Louisa, née Maguire, from Mudgee. After completing her training at Sydney Hospital, Nowland successfully passed her final examinations in September 1915. She then registered with the Australasian Trained Nurses' Association in May of the following year.[3]
Nowland enlisted in the military on May 24, 1917. Departing from Melbourne on June 9, she embarked on the RMS Mooltan, a mail steamer, accompanied by fellow nurses Adele Baker, Jessie Bassetti, Esther Coggins, Vida Greentree, Alice Scahill, and Annie Major-West, as well as 300 other nurses bound for Salonika, Greece. The ship reached Suez on July 19, and the nurses continued their journey to Cairo by train. On August 13, Nowland arrived in Salonika, where she diligently served in British hospitals. However, in November 1918, due to nervous debility, she was evacuated to Cairo. By December, she was deemed unfit for service and was repatriated to Australia on board the Leicestershire, arriving on January 23, 1919. Finally, on May 31, 1919, Nowland was officially discharged from her military duties.[4]
In 1925, she was designated as the assistant to the registrar of the recently established Nurses' Registration Board. Her primary responsibility involved conducting inspections of various training schools. In 1931, deeply disturbed by the unfavorable conditions faced by nurses, she collaborated with Jessie Street to establish a nurses' union in New South Wales. On 27 March 1931, Nowland assumed the role of the inaugural president of the New South Wales Nurses' Association. By 1936,[5] a significant milestone was achieved as nurses in both public and private hospitals across the State were finally granted uniform pay and working conditions. Shortly thereafter, Evelyn decided to step down from her position as president. Subsequently, she pursued a career as a private nurse in the northern suburbs of Sydney.[6]
Nowland married surveyor Lieutenant William Charles O’Toole at St. Phillip's Anglican Church, Sydney on 27 March 1920. They moved to the Clarence River district where her husband was attached to the Grafton Lands Office. They divorced in 1923 and Nowland reverted to using her maiden name.[7]
Nowland died on 4 November 1974 while residing in a convalescent home in Roseville, New South Wales.[8]