Isobel Kathleen Curnow was born in 1881 at Ballarat East, Victoria, the daughter of Thomas and Jean Isabella Curnow (née Mortimer). Isobel trained as a nurse at the Ballarat District Hospital. She then spent time as a member of the Melbourne District Nursing Society Trained Nurses. With their mode of transport being bicycles, these nurses gave nursing care to the poor in the inner Melbourne and close surrounding areas.
By the time she enlisted in the Australian Army Nursing Service at the age of 34, on 10 May 1915, Nurse Curnow had worked both at Ballarat Hospital and at the Queen Victoria Hospital in Melbourne, specialising as an operating theatre nurse. Eight days after she enlisted, Staff Nurse Curnow sailed for overseas service aboard Mooltan, with the newly raised 3rd Australian General Hospital (3 AGH). The hospital was initially sent to London, but upon arrival was sent back to Egypt, and then on to Mudros Island in the Aegean, to nurse casualties from the Gallipoli campaign.
At the end of 1915 the staff of 3 AGH returned to Egypt, where the hospital operated until September 1916, when it moved briefly to England and then on to Abbeville in France. Isobel Curnow served with both 3 AGH and 1 AGH in this period before being promoted to Sister in May 1917. After this date she was employed in her capacity as a specialist theatre nurse, alternating between 3 Australian Casualty Clearing Station and 45 (British) Casualty Clearing Station, with 'rest' periods nursing at 10 Stationary Hospital and 25 (British) General Hospital.
In late 1918 Sister Curnow transferred to 2 Australian Auxiliary Hospital at Southall, London, which specialised in the fitting of artificial limbs. She returned to Australia on the troopship Berrima, arriving in Melbourne in February 1919. Isobel Curnow's appointment with the AIF was terminated in April 1919. On 10 April 1922, at Ballarat, Isobel married Walter Laurence Burch. Isobel died at the Brisbane Hospital on 26 October 1934 and is remembered at the Mount Thompson Memorial Gardens and Crematorium, Brisbane, Queensland.
Her brothers Leonard James Curnow and Thomas Curnow both served with the AIF and are also honoured with trees in the Avenue.