Nurse Jessie Emily Jane Bright (1863-1934)

Nurse Bright was a well-known midwife in the Bunbury area and ran a maternity home in Zoe Street for 10 years from 1914. 

Jessie Emily Jane Shaw married Albert Bright in Victoria in 1892 before travelling to Western Australia (reference). The Brights settled in Cookernup, where Jessie started practicing as a midwife around 1909. She appeared on the first Western Australian register of midwives in 1911 (reference). In 1914 at 52 years old, she began advertising her newly opened maternity home on Zoe Street in Bunbury. Her lack of academic qualifications did not deter expecting mothers from using her services (reference) and the delivery list of her maternity home’s first year shows she was delivering up to three babies in one day, with mothers travelling from as far as Perth to give birth under her care.

Over seven years from 1914 to 1921, Nurse Bright operated the nursing home in Zoe Street, delivering several hundred babies whose mothers lived all over the South-West. Advertising for the maternity home suddenly stopped in 1921, suggesting possibly an unannounced closure. One plausible reason for this is that she was in her late 50s, and at the time uncertified midwives were coming under attack as shown by a doctor describing them as “selfstyled midwives who managed to scrape on to the list of Registered Non-Certificated Midwifes in the good old days, when brains, training, eyesight, and certificates were not needed.” (reference). However, the last birth published in the newspapers was that of Grace Ann Moriarty on August 29th, 1921 (reference) - the third baby of this family to be born at Nurse Bright’s (reference; reference).  Shortly after Grace’s birth, her mother, Helena, was admitted to St Clair’s hospital sometime in September (reference) and died there on November 4th, 1921 (reference) which indicates there might have been complications with the birth. This also might have contributed to the maternity home’s sudden closure.

As well as offering maternity services at her Zoe Street residence, Nurse Bright would also care for people who needed periods of recuperation. She didn’t advertise this service but there are records of several cases. In 1914, Mrs Lou Reedy was nursed through a serious illness for several weeks before she recovered (reference). That same year, Mrs Moriarty’s son was seriously ill but recovered quickly under Nurse Bright’s care (reference). In 1918, Mr John Brennan, a pioneering landowner from Augusta, was admitted to Nurse Bright’s residence seriously ill but died six weeks later (reference). Judging by the example of Mrs Harry Morgan, who, in 1918,  was admitted with an ‘unexpected and serious’ illness, Nurse Bright had doctors in attendance in these cases (reference).

From the end of 1921 and through the following years, Nurse Bright remained in her Zoe Street home and advertised board for High School children (reference) as well as rooms to let (reference).

Nurse Bright and her husband appeared to have enjoyed their retirement years, often visiting friends (reference; reference; reference) and having friends visit (reference; reference). In 1927, a tragedy occurred when Nurse Bright’s friend, Mrs Maggie Swan, was hit by a train and killed on the way to visit her (reference).

Nurse Bright, who had no children of her own but ‘whose ministrations to hundreds of mothers will long be gratefully remembered’ (reference) died in 1934 on Christmas Eve after a long illness. She was 71 years old (reference).

In 1953, the Bunbury council named Bright Street in her honour (reference).

This article was researched and written by Gaye Englund for the Streets of Bunbury project.