The Australian Women's Register

1 hour 30 minutes Patricia Deal was born in Sydney and was a dressmaker before beginning training at the Rachel Forster Hospital at Redfern. She completed the course in 1957, and did midwifery in Perth the following year. In 1959 she joined the staff of the Repatriation General Hospital at Concord, New South Wales and has continued to serve in repatriation hospitals apart from a short term in Vietnam in 1969. In 1968 Pat studied at the NSW College of Nursing for the Diploma in Nursing Administration, and in 1971 she enrolled at the University of NSW to do a social work course. She transferred to the Arts Faculty and completed an arts degree in 1974. In 1977 she took leave from her post as Director of Nursing at the Repatriation General Hospital, Daw Park (which she still held at the time of the interview) and studied for the Masters Degree in Health Planning, also at the University of NSW. Pat was actively associated with the Australian Army Nursing Corps for twenty five years, retiring with the rank of Major in 1986.