On International Nurses Day, we’re proud to celebrate a remarkable family whose legacy of nursing spans four generations, almost 80 years of care, compassion and commitment to children and families.
For Michelle Lock, nursing has never just been a profession. It’s a shared family story, passed down from her grandmother to her mother, to herself, and now to her daughter, each generation connected by a deep commitment to caring for others.
That story began with Michelle’s grandmother, Margaret, who started her nursing training at Adelaide Children’s Hospital (now the Women’s and Children’s Hospital) in 1948 and became a registered nurse in 1951. Shortly after qualifying, Margaret travelled to England, backpacking across the UK while working for six months in a paediatric hospital before returning to Adelaide Children’s Hospital in 1954. The values she gained through nursing of resilience, compassion and care, lived on through her family.
Margaret’s daughter, Mary, followed in her footsteps, starting her nursing training on her 18th birthday in 1973. She worked across Joanna, Rose, Fielders and Princess wards and lived in the nurses’ quarters in the Samuel Way Building while she trained. “It was very lush accommodation,” Michelle recalls her mum saying. After leaving Adelaide Children’s Hospital, Mary moved to Sydney to work at the Royal Alexandra Children’s Hospital before returning to Adelaide to raise her family, with nursing now firmly woven into the family’s identity.
For Michelle, nursing felt like a natural path. She studied nursing at Flinders University from 1998 to 2000, where a clinical placement on Newland Ward confirmed her passion for paediatric care. Those years were busy, Michelle’s daughter, Sarah, was born during her second year of university and spent the first six months of her life accompanying Michelle to classes. Michelle completed her graduate nurse program on the 4th Floor Medical Ward in 2001 and worked there until 2004. In 2023, she returned to the Women’s and Children’s Health Network as Nurse Unit Manager of WCH@Home.
Today, the legacy continues with Sarah, the fourth generation of nurses in the family. Sarah studied nursing at UniSA from 2020 to 2022. A clinical placement on Michael Rice Ward confirmed paediatric nursing was where she belonged. She completed her Transition to Professional Practice Program at Flinders Medical Centre and continued working across paediatric services, including Women’s and Children’s Hospital wards through the Casual Pool. In 2025, Sarah also volunteered as a nurse in a remote community in Africa, an experience she describes as “life changing”.
When Sarah chose nursing, Michelle says she felt immense pride. “I was very proud of her for setting out on what she wanted to achieve. I knew nursing could take her all over the world if she wanted to, and it already has.”
Across four generations, nursing has changed significantly. “Technology, training, skills and scope of practice have advanced enormously,” Michelle reflects. “But what hasn’t changed and should never change is the human touch, compassion, and empathy provided through nursing.”
This International Nurses Day, we celebrate not only the incredible nurses caring for our community today, but family legacies like this one reminding us that care, connection and commitment can truly span generations.
