In October 1986, Victorian nurses began an historic strike action which was to last 50 days. Breaking Point (1998) is a retrospective work, reflecting on the 10 years following the 1986 Victorian strike. It was produced by Mark Bird and Nicholas Bird (of Waterbyrd Filmz, the production company that, as outlined above, also made Vivien Bullwinkel, Nurse TV and Australian Nurses). In this film, it is not primarily images of striking nurses and the words of striking nurses that tell the story, but the voice-over. The narrator (Patrick J. Bonello) positions the strike alongside other national and world events of 1986, ‘the year that changed the nursing profession in Australia forever’. In this film, the strike is framed as a pivotal one in the history of Australian nurses, and one that affected individual nurses deeply and transformed their profession irrevocably. There is a conscious discussion on the emotional effects of the 1986 strike – relationships broke up, people had no money, unionists could not feed their families, it was hard to keep going, families fought over the strike, picketing nurses recalled getting spat at, and there was even a death threat. [Description adapted from Milner & Brigden, 2014, pp. 116; 118]39 minute video file (.mp4 multimedia format), transferred from original videocassette. In colour, with sound. Original was released with a booklet explaining the broader context for the documentary.labor, labour history, nurses, royal australian nursing federation, strikes, industrial action, film, trade unions, 1986 victorian nurses strike, nursing, strike action, unionism, women, irene bolger, john cain, david white

Newspaper clippings from Melbourne newspapers: The Age, The Sun, The Catholic Weekly, The Argus, The Herald have been pasted into the book. Topics include: St Vincent's Hospital Melbourne, Hospital funding, changes to hospital management in Australia, nurses and nursing, medical training, blood donations, State and Federal health policies.Hard bound exercise book with grey cover and lined pages. Newspaper clippings have been pasted into the book in chronological order. The date and source have been written underneath each clipping.Written in black pen on the cover: Press cuttings / 25th Sept., 1951 - 11th July, 1952 Printed on the cover: The..../ Commerce/ Seriesst vincent's hospital melbourne, scrapbooks, newspapers

Cape worn with the uniform of the nurses of the Australian Army Nursing Service during the World War 2 period. This cape is a crimson colour and was worn with the standard issue AANS summer uniform. The cape is worn over the uniform tunic and joined at the front by a hook and eye fastener. The cape has epaulettes on both shoulders with the insignia worn by an Army Lieutenant and has the standard semi circular "AUSTRALIA" insignia on each shoulder.