 The opportunity to go to Australia had come about because the politician and social reformer, Henry Parkes, wrote to Florence Nightingale requesting nurses to reform nursing in New South Wales.They were to be based at the Sydney Infirmary and Dispensary and train nurses to institute the new nursing system throughout the colony.Lucy Osburn and five other St Thomas' trained nurses, including Haldane Turriff, arrived in Sydney on 5 March 1868.