Judith Cornell Oration

The Judith Cornell Oration (JCO) is a biennial event initiated by ACORN in 2002.

The JCO is a celebration of the achievements of Australian perioperative nurses and to allow future visions to be shared. Orators are distinguished perioperative nurses who, throughout their careers, have made a significant contribution to advancing perioperative nursing in Australia.

Judith Cornell AM (1940–2014), after whom this award is named, is one such a nurse. In 1975, Judith was one of two NSW Operating Theatre Association (OTA) representatives who attended the planning meeting that led to the first Australasian Conference of Operating Room Nurses, held in Canberra in 1977. Judith chaired this conference, at which it was decided to form the Australian Confederation of Operating Room Nurses, ACORN. The inaugural ACORN National Council meeting was held the following year with two representatives from each state. Judith advised and mentored the first in-coming group of ACORN Councilors from South Australia who was led by Jill Hughes Jones, the first ACORN Chairman. Judith served on the 2nd ACORN Council 1980-1983 representing NSW. Her leadership in the convening that first conference and the subsequent formation of ACORN, and mentoring of those who came later is her lasting legacy. The purpose of the national body was to look into all aspects of nursing practice in the operating room and, to that end, ACORN produced its first Standards, Guidelines and Policy Statements in 1980. Following her retirement from perioperative nursing in 1986, to take on other challenges, Judith was made a life member of the NSW OTA.