Eileen O'Connor

Eileen Rosaline O'Connor was an Australian Roman Catholic and the co-founder of the Society of Our Lady's Nurses for the Poor, a religious congregation, also known as "the brown nurses", to provide free nursing services to the poor. Eileen suffered from a severe curvature of the spine and was - at best - 115 cm tall, although for much of her life she could not stand or walk. It is now known that she suffered from spinal tuberculosis (TB) and transverse myelitis. It was through her own hardship that the idea of founding a nursing congregation for the poor came to mind. Both she and her fellow co-founder Fr Ted McGrath faced initial difficulties in recruiting others to the congregation but in the end managed to grow a congregation of religious sisters who were dedicated to their vision of care for the poor. But allegations of misconduct between McGrath and O'Connor - later quashed - prevented McGrath's return to Australia which left O'Connor in the position of leading the group of nurses.