Speech given by Jenny Trewartha to the Bendigo Historical Society on 7th March, 2025 at the la Trobe Art Institute, View Street, Bendigo. Jenny was a graduate of the NDSN at the end of 1972. The Northern District School of Nursing opened at Bendigo in 1950 and was the only regional independent School of Nursing of its kind in the southern hemisphere. There was a huge need for trained nurses in hospitals across the region as the nursing numbers were dwindling. Post World War II was a critical period with soldiers returning with wounds and conditions not seen before and needing special treatment. Medicine and medical treatments were entering a new age, and this new age needed nurses with new skills. There was a need to improve the status and prospects for nurses. Improved working and living conditions were needed; adequate remuneration and a career path to attract a better class of trainees, and a uniform training by means of a circular or block system. This was the basis of the establishment of the Northern District School of Nursing which oversaw nurse training in hospitals across the northwest of Victoria, including Bendigo, Castlemaine, Kyneton, Maryborough, Mildura, Ouyen, St Arnaud, Swan Hill, Dunolly, Inglewood and Echuca. The Northern District School of Nursing opened in 1950 and closed its doors in 1989 having overseen the training of more than 3000 nurses who are now scattered across Australia and the world.Ten pages of typed notes pertaining to training as a nurse at the Northern District School of Nursing from 1950 to 1989, and the Northern District School of Nursing Graduates Association. Document discusses different aspects of life as a trainee nurse - including financial, social and where students came from.northern district school of nursing, nursing, student