Audrey ‘Sue’ Sewter
(1928-2017)
Audrey ‘Sue’ Sewter was born in Lancaster, England in 1928. She trained to become a nurse at St Thomas’ Hospital in London. In 1954 Sue left the UK to spend three years in New Zealand. But it was after a visit to Australia in 1956 that Sue found her future home. After a brief return to England, she settled permanently in Australia in 1959.
Sue arrived in Penrith to take up work as a nurse and nurse educator at Nepean District Hospital. She was head of Group School of Nursing and played a major role in educating nurses in the Penrith and surrounding areas. In 1978, she was appointed by the Minister for Education as the first coordinator of the Western Metropolitan Regional Council of Nurse Education. Sue also helped with the transition from hospital based learning for nurses, to university. She retired in 1984.
An interest in local history saw Sue help to establish archives at St. Stephens Church and Nepean Hospital. Sue was a volunteer in Penrith Library’s Research Room for fifteen years, undertaking indexing of the Nepean Times and assisting in cataloguing the Library’s historic photographic collection. A keen photographer herself, Sue took many photos of the local area. Her photos now form part of the Library’s photographic collection. Sue’s interest in local history even saw her present a paper at the Library’s 2004 history conference.
Sue’s contribution to the local area was recognised in 2009 when she received a Penrith City Council Wall of Achievement Community Award.
