 She campaigned in 1946 for better pay and conditions before returning to Sydney to study midwifery, running a small private hospital from 1947.She was honorary founding secretary of the New South Wales College of Nursing in 1949 before moving to South Australia as a community health nurse.Anstey returned to Perth in 1953 to work at the Perth Chest Clinic, and was appointed matron of the new Perth Chest Hospital in May 1958 after studying nursing administration at the College of Nursing, Australia, in Melbourne.