Leigh Black

Leigh Black graduated as a registered nurse from Royal North Shore Hospital,Sydney, in 1973. With a career spanning 50 years, Leigh’s nursing experience has been primarily in rural and remote care.

Raising children while working in the family farming business necessitated a hiatus from nursing. Leigh’s entrepreneurial spirit was allowed some freedom though as she made a bold attempt to market Australian wool to the USA, built a successful rural tour business and during some tough years became a drought welfare officer for the Department of Primary Industries.

On returning to her primary profession in 1996, Leigh followed her dream of remote and Indigenous nursing. The experience of those years compelled Leigh to share her stories of the incredible people she met, and the wonderful places in which she was privileged to work, in her debut book Not Just a Nurse.

Now retired from nursing, Leigh lives in the eclectic community of Lightning Ridge, Yuwaalaraay Country, NW where she welcomes guests to her holiday cottage on the opal fields. Time with family and friends, writing, reading and travelling are Leigh’s favourite pursuits.

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Not Just a Nurse

by Leigh Black

Sometimes an experience is so vast and ongoing that it is difficult to find the words.

From the Warrumbungle Mountains to the red earth of the Pilbara, the Island of Lemnos to the opal fields of Lightning Ridge, this memoir spans seventy years of a life dedicated to family, adventure and service to others.

Leigh left her final nursing position with a desire to share the stories of the indigenous people she so loved working with. As she records their lives, and recounts other character rich stories, Leigh reveals her own life journey: of childhood tragedy, nursing in the era of hospital training, raising a family on a rural property and the realities of providing medical care in rural and remote Australia.

Like many of her patients, Leigh’s story is one of resilience and courage in the face of adversity.

As Leigh devoted her life to making a difference her story asks us to consider what we can do to care for others.

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Jess filed freelance articles for me when I was an editor at Forbes Australia and when I moved to Company Director magazine, I discovered she was already entrenched as a writer and I was very happy to continue our successful relationship. Jess is the ultimate professional. She is incredibly dedicated to crafting the best story for the commission. She listens, asks questions and is a fabulous communicator, enthusiastic in her work, timely in her filing, and has excellent attention to detail. I highly recommend Jess.

Managing Editor at Company Director Magazine Highly recommend working with Jessica Mudditt! I have collaborated on dozens of occasions with CFO Magazine A/NZ from one-on-one interviews with Australia’s top CFOs and business leaders, to ‘multi-voice’ independent articles, through to live webinar write ups – Jessica is always the ultimate professional and entrust both my personal and professional brand and reputation with her. On time, on budget, clear communications and an absolute pleasure to work with.

“As she is a seasoned journalist who has worked all around the world and an author of two published books, I turned to Jessica for a coaching session on a writing project when I was looking for someone. Her advice was practical, do-able and to the point. In addition, her price was reasonable. I would seek out Jess’s help again and also recommend her any time to any one.”

“Working with Hembury Books has been a delight. Jess Mudditt works hard at her craft whilst providing much encouragement and creative support.”

“I don’t know how to thank you for your skill and knowledge, as well as your incredible patience with me. I know I am hopeless with computer technology and you have been remarkable. Publishing my book has been a great learning experience; the sort one doesn’t expect at my age. Thank you for all you have done. You are a pretty remarkable woman. Congratulations on becoming who you are.”

I found Jess just ahead of releasing my first book into the world and I am so glad I did, as she became a great support for me to lean on. I can’t imagine my journey without her now. She made the whole experience that much sunnier. Any author who gets to work with Jess is blessed and has a true friend on their side. I ended up booking Jess to host my book launch event too, and again, I couldn’t recommend her highly enough. A beautiful soul, passionate about nonfiction storytelling, and a great source of wisdom when it comes to all things self-publishing.