Early Life
Elizabeth Kenny was born in Warialda, New South Wales, in 1880. Lisa (as her family called her) was home-schooled by her mother before attending schools in New South Wales and Nobby, Queensland. At age 17, she broke her wrist in a fall from a horse. Her father took her to Dr. Aeneas McDonnell in Toowoomba, where she remained during her convalescence. While there, Kenny studied McDonnell's anatomy books and model skeleton. That began a lifelong association with McDonnell, who became her mentor and advisor. Kenny later asserted that she became interested in how muscles worked while convalescing from her accident. Instead of using a model skeleton (since they were available for medical students only ), she made her own. From age 18 until her mid-twenties, she worked as an unaccredited bush nurse in the Clifton district. In 1907, Kenny returned to Guyra, New South Wales, to live with a cousin. While there she claimed to receive basic nursing training from a local midwife, but there is no record of her undertaking formal nursing training. She also brokered agricultural sales between Guyra farmers and northern markets in Brisbane. Contrary to some sources, she was not a member of a religious order; in Commonwealth nations, the title "sister" is applied to senior qualified nurses and does not necessarily indicate a religious vocation.
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“... business training in early life should not be regarded solely as insurance against destitution in the case of an emergency. For from business experience women can gain, too, knowledge of the world and of human beings, which should be of immeasurable value to their marriage careers. Self-discipline, co-operation, adaptability, efficiency, economic management,—if she learns these in her business life she is liable for many less heartbreaks and disappointments in her married life.”
—Hortense Odlum (1892–?)